Spliced
by AnimeGoddessOnPoint
Summary: Two weeks into World War lll and everything was going to hell. The Defense is the combined army of every country on the continent of Asia, including Japan. They united against Europe and the Americas and they had been holding their own easily do to their huge numbers until things started to go bad with the presence of newly-developed weapons called hybrids or Spliced ones.
1. The Aftermath

Running footsteps of horses along with the running footsteps of men echoed down the empty streets of what was once Ikebukuro. Bitter, cold air swept through the destroyed city carrying the voices of yelling men on horseback, hot in pursuit of men and women on foot that were soon to be captured. The moon illuminated the devastated streets, lighting up every fallen light pole and every massive crack in the road. The group on the ground easily maneuvered around these obstacles while the horses had more trouble. A couple of the horses slightly stumbled on debri, slowing them down or throwing their rider while others refused to jump some of the deep crevices in the middle of the road; unwilling to risk falling in them.

The people who had once resided in this bustling city were fearless, taking huge chances as they flew over the crevices and debris without hesitation. The timespan of just two weeks had made them this way; willing to risk everything in order to not be captured by the Defense. Their efforts, in the end, were futile as one by one the people grew tired, lacking the energy to keep their pace. There were only a handful left now and they were tiring quickly, their endurance nothing compared to a horse's.

In the front of the pack was a raven haired man in all black, his fur-lined jacket whipping in the wind as he forced his body to keep up it's pace. The male cursed breathlessly at his luck as they reached a flat expanse of pavement, allowing the horses to gain on them. He'd only been passing through this group's camping area when a band of Sweepers had come by. He was the first to break out into a run and the others, noticing him zip by, started to follow him. The raven-haired man would have easily slipped away, wouldn't have had to run far to get out of sight, had the others not decided to follow him. The raven felt his pace begin to slow as his breath came out in gasps. He needed to find a way to slip into the shadows, but with the people behind the informant following him wherever he went, it was a nearly hopeless cause.

Quickly the informant came up with an idea, his years of running from Shizou allowing him to make decisions even under pressure. Using the last of his energy to break out into a hard sprint, the male took a sharp turn to the left directly down a dead-end alley. Sure enough the others followed, but this time way further behind due to their legs slowing and the suddenness of the change in direction. Running to nearly the end of the tight alley, the raven kicked off the wall to the right of him and when he was pushed to the left, he kicked off the wall on the other side over and over until he had made his way up the walls to the rooftop. The informant pulled himself onto the ledge of the tall building and collapsed onto his back on the roof-top, wails of despair calling up after him as his chest heaved. Below the raven could hear the sobs and cries from the people being captured by the Sweepers, getting steadily louder as the people succumbed to hysteria.

The Sweepers were anything but civil about the whole thing. They were brutal, punching and kicking the captured if they resisted even a tiny bit. If the prisoners said anything that insulted them, they would beat them badly enough that the captured man or woman could no longer walk. You were completely finished then. When you couldn't walk, you were put down as if you were a horse with a broken leg. At that point you're useless to their cause. Izaya closed his eyes as he heard the noises below die down and the clomps of horse hooves pound away back to the cattle truck they transported their prisoners in. Two weeks into World War lll and everything was going to hell.

The Defense was the combined army of every country on the continent of Asia, including Japan. The war had forced them to unite against Europe and the Americas and they had been holding their own easily do to their huge numbers until things started to go bad. The presence of newly-developed weapons entered the playing field, turning the tables completely. The combined countries had extended their weaponry far from atomic bombs, not wanting to destroy the limited resources they were fighting over, and instead turned to human and animal experimentation. They turned normal humans and animals into products of war, unleashing new beasts onto the battlefield every time the combined countries clashed. In an attempt to keep the odds even, the Defense began to capture their own citizens, experimenting on them and making their own spliced weapons. No one would willingly offer themselves up to have their bodies messed with in any way the Defense saw fit, so capturing them this way was how it had to be done.

Izaya sighed as he rolled over on his stomach, looking down at the empty city streets. There was an eerie silence now, the usual sounds of cars and people moving to and fro are now distant memories even though it hadn't been that long ago since everything was normal. The raven-haired male had been alone since this all started. He'd been out wandering the streets when planes began to slam into the sides of buildings and explosions shook the ground where terrorists threw grenades and shot bazookas at pedestrians and small shops. The raven had stood there in shock for a few long moments along with everyone else until he forced himself into action. His top priority was getting to his apartment to gather everything he could before he went into hiding.

The streets had been in absolute chaos. Everyone was screaming and trampling one another as terrorists fired automatic guns into the crowds. As if he had been more liquid than an actual person, Izaya had slipped through the panicking people easily. Keeping himself calm, the informant managed to make it to his apartment building. The raven-haired male had heard about terrorist attacks on other cities and had gotten supplies packed just in case an attack hit here. Izaya slipped up today though and decided to spend his day prowling the streets and observing his beloved humans.

Relief had washed over the informant as he made a mad dash to the front doors of the lobby to his apartment building along with many others who had the same idea as him: To gather some belongings and be on their way. Before anyone had reached them though, someone threw a grenade through an open window on the second floor. Izaya's sharp eyes had caught the movement and he immediately turned and ran the other way while more grenades were being thrown into windows higher up via a grenade launcher. The raven hadn't gotten too far from the building he was so desperately trying to get away from due to the river of people trying to get into the place. Izaya was beginning to panic a little as he heard the first explosion go off followed by a series of others.

Screams of terror filled the air as the concession of explosions kept coming, everyone who had made it inside the building were surely being blown to bits by now and the ones who had been on their way to it had turned the other way as a deafening and sickening sound came from the tall building. Izaya knew immediately that it was coming down as the building groaned in what was seemingly pain as it hunched over threateningly. Instead of running with the flow of the people the raven-haired informant ran to the right, shoving his way through the people running in a straight path away from the building. By the time he'd gotten to a safe distance away from the falling structure, it was already coming down and many people were unable to get away in time to avoid it. Izaya forced himself to tear his eyes away from the scene as screams filled the air, running in the direction he'd been running before. He had no clue where to go now. He couldn't hide on a rooftop due to the chance it'd come down, he couldn't hide out in a secluded building either. That ruled out a lot of Izaya's choices. He needed to think of something soon though, eventually running around in the open was going to get him killed.

The informant turned down a quiet alley, far from the screams and popping of gunshots, and backed himself into the darkest corner of it to stop and think for a moment. Being in a closed-off space wasn't a really good idea, but the sounds of guns going off weren't anywhere near here yet and only a handful of people ran by every now and them. Izaya thought about hiding out in a basement, but was terrified of the thought of getting stuck down there if the building connected to the basement came down. The raven explored other options as he heard the gunshots become closer and closer. Finally the male's gaze rested on the recycling dumpster beside him. An idea popped into the raven's head as he went up to the bin and lifted the lid. It was hardly filled with anything and Izaya was confused for a moment until he realized today was trash day. Carefully he climbed into the metal bin and pulled the lid down over it. It would be a bad situation if the buildings on either side of him came down, but this was the safest choice. He'd easily be able to make a run of it if it came to that.

The raven ended up spending the night in the blue bin as he listened for the noises outside to cease. At some point during the night, the Japanese military had showed up to start a counter-attack and the small battle that took place afterwards ended by the early hours of the morning. To be sure that everything had settled down, Izaya had stayed where he was until nearly noon. He then spent the day gathering supplies, finding a spot to set up a small living space, and looking over the damage that had been done on his city. There was still a lot of people left and many were beginning to set up camps here and there as their confidence grew. Soon the city was bustling in a different kind of way. People could be heard again, but traffic was nonexistent.

Three days after the terrorist attack though, the Sweepers began rolling in. No one would have thought them to be up to no good and might have gone with them willingly had they not come violently; on horseback and with ropes, stun guns, and nets. They attacked camps and began to hunt the surviving people like animals. Though many were captured during the past two weeks, many people still remained here. They learned quickly and took themselves to hiding and making themselves harder to find. However, everyday their numbers decreased consistently. Having to go out for food and water was one of the leading reasons people wound up captured.

Izaya stretched his aching muscles as he looked for a way to climb down from the roof he was on. The coast had to be clear now and he should get back to his living space soon if he wanted to insure that no one tried to steal his supplies. Today had been Izaya's first day where he didn't have anything to do. He'd spent these last two weeks gathering supplies and staking out a good place to live. He spent several hours a day looking for spots in a quiet corner of the city and had to change his location a total of three times due to camps getting too close. Wherever the camps went, the Sweepers followed. It was beyond Izaya as to why everyone kept moving in big groups when it made you stand out, but at least the majority of the people still here had figured it out already.

The informant let out a grunt as he finally landed on the pavement after carefully making his way down from the roof. His living space was clear across town and it would be a long walk there. Moving about in the city took longer than usual now. Groups here were constantly warring and stealing from one another due to resources being hard to find. Some groups had even established borders and crossing them would definitely spell a fight if you carelessly just walked through their claimed land. Izaya knew two groups in particular that consisted only of gang members and delinquents. Yes they stole and warred like everyone else, but they took it a step further. Seemingly, their only purpose was to target lone men and women and torment them. They raped some and beat others, but they were very fond of beating and then raping the majority of people they came across. To survive here you definitely needed a group, but Izaya couldn't take that chance. He didn't know who to trust at the moment or if it was even worth possibly being caught.

He decided against a group in the end. Izaya was fairly good at protecting himself against the troublemakers, especially since he knew all about them. Everyone was a lot less intimidating when you knew their face and personality like the back of your hand. Still he knew well enough to stay out of the way and not to play his usual games if he hoped to stay alive and uncaptured. The moon was now at it's highest point in the sky and Izaya could only guess that it was late at night at this point. Making sure his footsteps didn't make any noise, the raven haired male walked towards the open end of the alleyway. Peeking his head out, he looked from left to right. The informant listened hard for any sounds, for all he knew someone could be after him. Afterall, Izaya didn't have a good reputation among the people of this city.

When he heard nothing, the informant quickly jogged across the wide street straight ahead and back into the shadows the buildings provided him. Making his way through the alleys he knew just as well as the people that used to reside in the city, Izaya slunk his way toward his living space. Along the way he heard sounds of life. A low bustling could be heard among the shadows and under the cover of night. People tended to be more active around this time and he could clearly hear people laughing, talking, and the sound of cans being opened. Izaya would be lying if he said he didn't miss human contact. The sounds of life still happening even in the midst of all this was the only thing keeping him from losing his mind.

A creeping thought struck the informant and he was honestly surprised he hadn't thought of it before. Where was Shinra? What about Kida and Mikado? Celty and Anry? Aoba, Simon, Kadota, Walker, Erika, Namie, his sisters, and even Shizou… Where were they? Survival had been the only thing on Izaya's mind so he hadn't thought about where anyone else might be. Had they even survived the Spaniard's terrorist attack? Had Namie been in the apartment when the building came down? Suddenly Izaya felt very alone. Everyone he knew was gone; well he assumed so. It was useless to be hopeful given his current situation. Another thought entered Izaya's mind and the raven haired teen was surprised that he hadn't thought about it before either.

What would he do from here? Was he going to wait around, just try to survive and hope he doesn't slip up and get caught by the Sweepers? Izaya knew it was ignorant to think that this war would end in his lifetime, so simply waiting for it to pass over would be useless. He knew he should probably leave this city and make a run for the hills, but the informant would be horribly out of his element there. The raven haired male felt safest within the boundaries of the city, but how long until the place got entirely too dangerous?

Izaya pushed the thoughts from his mind. He needed his head to stay clear and listening for any possible danger. There would be plenty of time to think his next move out when he got home. Just in time, the informant heard heavy footsteps racing down one of the alleys nearby. Quickly, Izaya slunk into another alleyway, his body becoming one with the shadows as he pulled up his black hood. The pounding feet stopped about a good yard or two away as the sounds of ragged breathing filled the still and crisp air.

"Sheesh, how has he not been captured yet? He's always making too much noise!", said a young sounding boy.

Izaya guessed he was about Kida's age if anything.

"Are you stupid? With strength like that, no one would be able to capture him even if they wanted to. He's nearly invincible.", said an older sounding teen.

The raven haired male still hiding in the alley a few feet away smirked at the teens' words. Shizou was obviously still alive by the sound of it. The lonely feeling the male had felt before fell away as he continued on his way. He'd been stupid to think that Shizou, that monster, could ever be killed. Falling buildings, bullets, and Sweepers wouldn't even faze him. He was shocked ,though, that he hadn't even heard or seen the blonde himself. They must have come in close proximity at some point and usually whenever the bartender caught wind of him, he came running to try and kill him. The city wasn't so big that it'd be impossible for them to meet up at some point. Izaya travelled the whole expanse of the city within the day everyday, checking things out and observing things, so why hadn't he seen him at least once?

Doubt sunk into the raven haired teen as he turned down an alley and then another and another, until he found the bunker he had been holing up in. If Shizou was still here, he would have known about it. Izaya dismissed the conversation, thinking that surely they were talking about someone else. Someone a victim of the experiments the government are conducting. It wasn't completely unknown for some out-of-control experiments to escape.

The informant checked that the stick he'd stuck into the loop of the handles to the bunker doors was still in place, so he knew that no one was currently inside before looking around to make sure the coast was clear. Finding no one, he pulled out the stick and opened the doors and descended into the underground space, making sure to close the doors behind himself.

The male switched on the generator-powered lights as he went down the four steps to the surprisingly spacious bunker. There had been a bed down here already and fresh sheets in the cabinet on the far left side of the room. There had even been water, food, and even a sink had been already in here as well. With a sigh, the raven-haired male plopped onto the bed, his body weary as he picked up his phone from the wobbly dresser beside it; pulling the device of it's charger in the process. He turned the screen on to find that he had no messages, which wasn't all that surprising since not a lot of people had electricity at the moment. With a sigh Izaya went to put his phone back down, until he changed his mind and pulled it back to his face again. The informant quickly went down his contact list until he found the exact contact he was looking for.

'Are you still alive Shizu-chan?'

Izaya stared at the text message for a long moment, until he finally pressed send. He doubt he'd get a quick response or one at all, so he set his phone down. zIt was useless to try and send a message to the blonde. It was more reasonable to think that Shizou was captured, after all the military now made many others with the same monstrous strength and must know how to combat and detain the strength they possessed, but Izaya continued to hang onto the hope that it was in fact the blonde who had run into those two teens. It was weird that he clung to this hope so strongly while being firm to the assumption that everyone else was either dead or in hybrid camps. To him, Shizou was the most indestructible force in the planet and if the blonde was detained, then there was no hope for the fate the world had sunk into.

-  
The informant woke up how he'd woken up for the past two weeks, violently and as if ice-cold water had been thrown onto him. Usually there was a reason for his abrupt awakenings like gunshots, screaming, or even the distinct sound of horse's hooves, but this time there seemed to be no reason at all. Izaya sat confused for a while as he looked at the very dim light that showed through the cracks of the bunker doors. From the amount of light there was, the raven-haired male deducted that it was the early hours of the morning. There was only silence beyond the double-doors of his living space, not even birds were chirping. Hearing nothing at all, the informant began to turn back over and sleep, dismissing his reaction as just his nerves. The raven-haired male settled back into his sheets again, still feeling unsettled. There had to be a reason he woke up. His body had never misled him before, so why would it now?

As if confirming this, Izaya heard popping sounds in the distance and the occasional tremble that slightly shook the walls of the bunker. The informant silently thanked the heavens that he was a light sleeper as he got up and quickly went to gather the little belongings, food, and water he had just in case. As Izaya silently and swiftly gathered his stuff, throwing his charger in a bag and his phone in his pocket, he thought about what the safest thing to do was. The crimson-eyed informant could stay and pray that the soldiers or terrorists, whoever was attacking, didn't come across his bunker, or he could escape the city and into the unknown. Izaya didn't know what was happening outside of his city, his comfort zone, so he couldn't tell if staying was better than leaving. Heavy footsteps and shouts of five to six people running by jerked Izaya out of his musings.

Where groups went, the Sweepers followed. There was no way the raven-haired male could simply wait here and hope this all would pass. Whether he ran to another part of the city or moved on to another place entirely, he could not stay here in this bunker. Grabbing whatever else he could carry in his pockets and backpack without it being too heavy a burden to carry, Izaya started to run; pushing open the doors of the bunker. Immediately, the informant saw the thick smoke in the air and the popping sounds of firing guns drawing closer. Without waiting for himself to come up with a strategy, the raven-haired male took off running up the alley he'd come down the night before, avoiding following any groups so he could stay under the radar.

As his long strides carried him across the street and away from what was his home for the past week, Izaya heard more people run past as the sound he had come to dread the most, thundered not far off. The Sweepers had come and this time they had brought dangerous reinforcements, the popping sounds and horse's hooves pounding ever closer . As Izaya looked back at the sound of a cracking gunshot, he saw a man on a horseback fall as his beautiful palomino anglo-arab raced onward; spooked and panicked. The killing had induced an all out miniature war in the middle of the street and the informant didn't wait around to see who came out victorious. Seeing that the city was being hit hard as he ran through the maze-like streets of Ikebukuro, Izaya knew what he had to do. Even though the thought of leaving unsettled him, almost terrified him, he had to leave.

If this raid was unsuccessful then the Defense would only send more fire-power to the city next time. Izaya had figured a while back that the Defense was only taking the people from cities that had been under terrorist attacks. The way he added it all up, was that these people had no home or food and could expect no help from the already stretched-thin Defense. They would have all starved to death anyways, so why not put these people to good use? When he thought of it that way, it made perfect sense, but which cities were free of the Sweepers? Did they set up borders around safe cities to keep the terrorist-city survivors out? Were those places even any better?

Izaya was once again rudely jerked from his musings as a body collided into his side, tackling him to the ground. The raven-haired male twisted himself away from the shorter body and pulled his knife out of his pocket at surprising speed. As the smaller male fumbled for his own knife, the informant quickly ran towards the man and pushed him against the alley wall, blade against the male's throat.

"Sweeper or civilian?", Izaya said in a hoarse voice, his vocal cords strained at having not been used in so long.

The blonde teen behind the blade looked up with a terrified look on his face, sweat rolling slowly down his face as he swallowed thickly.  
"...I-Izaya? I-It's me… Masaomi.", the small teen said carefully, unsure of the older man's current mental state.

The informant's eyes brightened with recognition as he pulled his knife away. There was a moment where the two just stared at each other, looking the other in front of them up and down before the floor shook with a grenade and a deafening explosion filled the air. Without a word, the taller male grasped the blonde teen's arm and raced away in the direction he'd been going in before. Kida made no protest as he let himself be dragged along by the informant, the fact that Izaya was manipulative and the last person he'd ever want to be with not even entering his mind.

Once far enough away from the commotion, the raven-haired male let go of the blonde's arm, a silent signal that Kida wasn't obligated to come and that Izaya was merely getting him away from the immediate danger. Even when he was let go of, the teen followed. Izaya was the last familiar thing he could cling to. For a while the teen had been running the city with Saki and Aoba, simply surviving and trying to find Anry and Mikado. Aoba and Kida clashed a lot of the time, but Saki could easily bring down their fights. The little group had functioned perfectly until Saki had been captured a week ago. It had torn Masaomi apart and made him careless, putting both himself and Aoba into many tight and dangerous situations. The last the blonde had seen of the younger teen was three days ago after they'd gotten into the biggest fight they'd had yet. It was a full-out fist fight that ended in nose-bleeds and cuts from nails or nicely-aimed hits. Aoba quickly decided afterwards that he had had enough and called Kida "deadweight and a liability" before going his own way. A Kida alone with guilt and sadness was the worst Kida. He wandered the streets blankly without any regard to his safety after that, often walking into other's territories or boldly stealing off another's plate if he saw the chance. This was the kind of life the blonde would have lived until someone decided to finally kill him had the attack not happened, jerking him from his dark place and breathing the will to survive back into him.

The informant slowed to a jog as the blonde followed suit. They were now in the outskirts of the city and the explosions happening down in it could clearly be seen from the elevated position they were now in. Kida expected Izaya to stop so they could tell one another their stories and what information they had, but he raven-haired male kept his pace steady, running up the incline without much strain. The silence continued for a while longer as Masaomi watched Orihara's familiar black jacket flap out behind him. The blonde decided that silence was the better option at the moment, so he held back on all the questions he had. If anyone had the answers or a better understanding on all of this, then it was the informant, but Kida had to be patient and make it out of this alive. He'd figure out what the motive behind this all was and find Saki soon enough.

Izaya scanned the horizon looking for any possible threats as he listened to the footsteps behind him. He couldn't figure out if running into Kida was a good or bad thing yet. Groups tended to be sought out and he was very much aware at how much the shorter male despised him. Should he abandon the blonde to ensure he wouldn't be stabbed to death in his sleep or should he risk it all for the comfort of a familiar face? Orihara quickly came to the conclusion that two people moving in a group wouldn't be too noticeable, that Kida may have some valuable information, and extra eyes and ears were needed in unfamiliar territory. Rather than worry about the future, the informant needed to worry about now.

How was he going to get around effectively? Walking would take too long, jogging would exhaust their energy from the little food they have, and cars weren't an option since they were confined to the roads. As if some greater force had taken pity on him and sent him means of travel, the answer appeared nearly out of thin air. The golden coat of the mare Izaya had seen maybe forty to fifty minutes before was grazing peacefully ahead of them, it's white mane and tail flowing out behind it like some kind of horse halo. The informant held out a hand to stop Kida from walking any further as he motioned to where the anglo-arab was.

"Stay here. I'm going to see if we just acquired a means of transportation. ", the taller male murmured as the blonde nodded in understanding.

Izaya came closer making clicking sounds with his mouth and holding a hand out, making the mare aware of his presence so he didn't spook her. The palomino raised her head, the white markings on her face reflecting the early morning sun harshly, as her nostrils flared and her ears angled towards the informant. Curious brown eyes stared at the raven-haired male as he came even closer, murmuring in a soothing voice to the animal. The horse remained calm, most likely because it was used to the sound of gunshots and bombs going off, as the mare let out a soft neigh, taking two cautious steps forward; her nose still flaring as she took in Izaya's scent.

"I won't hurt you, I promise, I just need you to get me out of here. I know horses get lonely all alone and I can almost guarantee your human won't be coming back for you. It would be better to come with me and Kida-kun. Kida-kun loves horses, you know, and he wouldn't leave you all alone if you come.", Izaya cooed, making the teen behind him roll his eyes.

The blonde watched silently as the informant charmed the horse into letting him grab hold of her reins,as if she'd listened carefully to the proposition before giving in, and lead her towards the teen waiting further down the slight incline.

"Hurry and get on, Kida-kun. I'll be in front.", Izaya said as the shorter male, made a slight noise of distaste at what was to come.

Holding onto the informant's hips to keep him steady wasn't something the blonde wanted to do, but living was deemed something he wanted to do so he clambered up, leaving space for the taller male to climb up in front. As soon as Izaya had gotten settled into the saddle, Kida reluctantly held onto his waist. The warmth of the informant's middle was undeniably pleasant on the teen's nearly frozen hands. Feeling cold arms wrap around him securely, the informant made a clucking noise, which made the horse start off in a trot. Kida squeaked at the suddenness of the movement as he held onto Izaya tightly, burying his face into the informant's back.

"Don't cry, Kida-kun.", Izaya teased.

"I'm not crying.", Kida grumbled as he left his head where it was.

The blonde was exhausted. Making tough decisions, losing his girlfriend, dealing with depression, and fights with a certain dark blue haired teen, had taken a lot out of him. Finally letting someone else take the reins, both literally and figuratively was a relief. Izaya knew how to make good decisions and knew what to do in tight situations. Kida could finally let himself relax as he clung to a familiar presence, even if it wasn't necessarily the most pleasant of them all. The smaller male quickly found himself beginning to be lulled to a half-sleep state by the easy gait of the horse. The mare was a smooth ride and didn't jossle her riders nearly as much as the other horses Kida had rode in his lifetime. The blonde suspected good breeding and the horse breed itself had a lot to do with it.

Izaya was silent as he steered the elegant mare passed obstacles, his eyes still searching the horizon as he made sure to mind Kida. He could tell the shorter male was drifting. The blonde's grip would loosen at times, but tighten if the mare accidently stumbled on the rocky terrain or moved too suddenly to one direction. Usually the informant didn't care for physical contact, but his will to survive kept him from thinking about it too much. The outskirts of the city consisted of a small expanse of a prairie-like landscape, but with some incline to it. This landscape would last only for a short period until the pair reached the next city. The informant had a sinking feeling that this journey, that would usually take only two or three hours by train would take a lot longer on the back of a trotting horse. The weight of the two bodies only slowed the mare down even more and Izaya silently wished he could have come across a stallion instead.

Having a mare had it's advantages still. Female horses were more obedient and tended to be more agile and faster due to them not being weighed down by muscle. This would be a huge advantage when running from pursuers; most of the Sweepers preferred stallions over mares. They also seemed to prefer Holsteiners over other horse breeds. Holsteiners were originally bred as war horses so it made sense that they'd prefer them. That combined with best attributes, their jumping ability and their endurance, made them and all around perfect horse for the battlefield and capturing people in difficult terrain. While Holsteiners had fantastic ability and were skilled in every area, the Anglo-Arab had more ability in the areas that mattered most.

The Anglo-Arab is a cross between an Arabian and a Thoroughbred. Arabians are known to have the best endurance out of any other horse breed on the planet while Thoroughbreds are known to be the fastest and when you combine those two attributes into one, you got a horse with both great speed and great endurance. While the Anglo is not as fast as a Thoroughbred or possessed as much stamina as an Arabian, it still was faster and had more endurance than a Holsteiner. It was truly a shame that the Sweepers didn't realize how much more useful Anglos are and now Izaya had a very huge advantage over them.. Well if he didn't have Kida on the horse with him.

The informant was scared out of his smugness at finally gaining some advantage when the mare under him snorted out of boredom. Obviously Izaya wasn't familiar with the sounds horses made, so he hadn't been expecting a noise like that to come from the beast. The sudden movement of the informant made caused a groan to emit out of the teen still clinging to him as the blonde woke to full awakeness.

"Izaya, my butt hurts. Can I get off and walk for a bit?", Kida whined as he shifted around to find a position that didn't make him ache.

The informant looked around at their surroundings. The city was out of sight now, as they'd gotten over the massive hill they were travelling over before and the horizon ahead of them was an empty highway stretching forward to their left and the plain-like landscape they were travelling through to their right. Izaya thought they should go more to the right to get far from the highway and lower the chance of being seen, but he did need to check the condition of the saddle and reins and the actual state of the horse. The raven-haired male hadn't really seen any injuries so far, but it was a good idea to check.

"What have you been up to these past two weeks, Kid-kun~?", Izaya asked in a sing-song voice as he pulled the reins back slightly to stop the horse, knowing it would make the blonde stutter and get defensive.

"It's not like that, pervert!", Kida yelled indignantly as he jumped off the horse irritatedly as Izaya let one of his classic smirks grace his lips in the first time in what seemed like years.

Orihara had forgotten how easily Kida could be riled up and finding out that fact all over again was exciting. With the smirk still on his face, the informant slid off the horse onto the ground. He hissed in pain at how his rear and legs ached and hoped his body would adjust to travelling on horseback soon.

"Seeing that you're Izaya, I think you've actually been up to the things you accused me of just now.", the blonde said as his lips curved downwards into a frown.  
Izaya faked a hurt look as he let out a breathy sigh.

"Aww~ That one hurt, Kida-kun. I don't sleep around contrary to belief.", the informant said as he moved around to the front of the horse to check the bridle.

"I don't believe you...", the blonde mumbled as he watched Izaya's nimble fingers tugged and pulled on the straps of the bridle as the mare sniffed at the raven's dark hair.

The mare nickered happily and did a still little piaffe as Izaya ran his hand down the horse's long elegant neck. Kida was silently irked that the horse liked such a horrible person. Izaya was the most despicable human he had ever met, yet people and apparently horses alike adored him.

"If you keep frowning, your face will get stuck like that.", the informant teased as he moved down the horse's side to take off its saddle and check if the horse wasn't swaybacked.

"That would never happen.", the blonde retorted as the mare finally turned her attention to the teen, butting her head into his shoulder to urge him to pet her.

"Oh but it will, Kida-kun! Haven't you seen how Shizu-chan's face is always stuck in a scowl?"

Kida rolled his eyes as he gave into the demanding horse and combed her mane back into place. Izaya said nothing more as he took of the horse's saddle with much difficulty due to the weight. With a grunt the informant lowered the heavy leather to the ground and took a step back to look at the alignment of the horse's spine.

"Do you think Shizou was captured or something?", Kida asked suddenly, shifting to the light air to a more heavy and serious one.

Izaya's eyes became hard again as the reality of the situation came back down on him. He quickly picked back up the saddle and swung it over back onto the horse and buckled the strap. They had lingered here for longer than he intended.

" I never came across him even once since this all happened, but I overheard some kids talking about someone who was loud and had a lot of strength. I assumed then that they were talking about Shizu-chan, but I'm thinking it may have been someone else who'd been spliced."

"I've heard rumors about a guy like that and immediately thought of Shizou, but I never once saw him either…", Kida murmured as he thought about how weird this all was.

"In any case, we need to get moving. I'm not going to concern myself with a monster.", Izaya said shortly as he climbed back onto the mare's back.

He was eager to get moving again and away from the highway before the Sweepers came through here on their way back to the Hybrid camps. Kida climbed up after the older male and as soon as they were settled, Izaya made a kissing noise and the horse broke out into a full on gallop at a diagonal from the highway. The blonde nearly fell off the back of the beast as she swiftly carried them far from the black pavement. Izaya didn't have to run the horse, but he wanted to sample the mare's speed. The wind whipped through the informant's raven hair as he felt the horse's powerful legs push forward while the mare's breath came out in huffs, her tail raised high. Behind him Kida had him in a death grip, his face buried into his back again.

The informant noted how smooth the ride was. It felt more like he was floating across the ground rather than riding a horse. It was exhilarating, not as exhilarating as jumping from rooftop to rooftop while evading someone who wanted to kill you, but still exhilarating. The palomino playfully tossed her head as she pushed herself to an even faster speed without any prompting from her rider. It was obvious that she loved to run just for the fun of it and was happy to be finally worked. Izaya didn't complain as he let the horse travel any pace she wanted, sometimes speeding up and other times slowing to rest at a speed that let her regain some stamina. Kida let out a groan, obviously not finding the set pace enjoyable at all. Izaya prayed he wouldn't throw up on him as the raven-haired male continued to keep his eyes open for anything suspicious or anything worth checking out.

After a good solid twenty minutes or so of the set pace, Kida finally couldn't stand it. It was easier to ride a horse when you were in front, in back it was harder and you worked more to actively ride. The blonde's hips were sore from having to move his hips to match the horse's gait and his legs were aching from having to cling to the horse's sides in order to not fall off.

"Izaya, slow down…", the blonde said in an almost pleading voice.

Orihara saw no reason to decline the request so he slowed the horse to a trot, much to the mare's distaste. In retaliation, the palomino raised her neck up high and kept her tail raised as she moved forward in a way that jostled her riders, her gait being heavily exaggerated. When the informant tried to get her to stop, the horse leg yielded and moved sideways instead of forwards..

"Quit being fussy!", Izaya said in irritation as he tried to regain control.

As if she understood what the informant had said, the mare straightened out, but refused to relax her neck and tail. Izaya guessed that the mare was testing her new rider to see what she could get away with. With a sigh, the raven-haired male pulled them to a stop and slid off followed shortly after by Kida. The mare then nickered and tossed her head again as she did another still piaffe. Izaya saw that the mare was itching for a run, so he turned her loose. Kida stared in disbelief as he watched the horse gallop away.

"Why'd you let her go?!", the blonde asked as the informant began walking towards a nearby tree.

"Relax, Kida-kun, she won't go far. We'll have to break her of her delinquent attitude as soon as possible or else she might just decide that she doesn't want to listen to me anymore.", Izaya said as he sat down.

Masaomi watched as the mare came thundering back and past them again a ways before turning and thundering back to the left.

"She must still be young. My guess would be just barely three.", Izaya continued as Kida sat down beside him.

There was a long silence as the autumn sun blazed down on the land surrounding them, turning the mare into the sun itself. She tossed her head and pranced to and fro, bucking every once in awhile once the urge presented itself.

"I think I finally have a name for her.", Masaomi said as he watched the mare run passed them.

"And what is that?", Izaya sighed as he watched the rebellious horse do as she pleased.

"Sukeban."

"Let's not give her a name that will make her think she's above us, Kida-kun."

"She's a horse, Izaya."

"What about Aki? It sounds more feminine than Sukeban.", the informant offered as Kida thought it over.

"Sukeban sounds cooler.", the blonde pouted as he watched the mare finally slow to a walk.

"Fine. I wouldn't have named the horse if you weren't here anyways.", Izaya said as he stood up and walked out of the shade the tree behind them supplied.

The blonde slowly stood as the mare walked toward Izaya and pressed her nose into the informant's waiting hand.

"So what do you think of the name Sukeban?", the raven haired male asked the mare as her ears swiveled forward to listen to his soothing voice.

The horse nickered softly at Izaya as she headbutted his shoulder.

"See? She likes it.", Masaomi stated as he walked up and scratched the troublesome horse behind her ears.

"She's a horse, Kida-kun.", Izaya stated.

The blonde responded with a glare as the informant felt a buzz in back pocket. Startled, the raven-haired male jumped a little making the mare nose at him in concern. Taking out his phone, Izaya saw that he had a new message.

'Are you still alive Shizu-chan'

'No.'

The informant smirked at the message. So he hadn't been killed nor captured.

"Who is it?", Kida asked curiously as he tried to crane his neck to see the message.

"Shizu-chan.", Izaya said with his smirk ever-growing.

'Are you still in the city or wandering around like us?'

The informant got an immediate response, which was something that wasn't very characteristic of Heiwajima.

'Us?'

'Me, Kida-kun, and a horse named Sukeban.'

There was a long moment where nothing came through and Orihara thought that surely their conversation was over.

'I'm out in some cabin north of Ikebukuro.'

'Alone?'

'Yeah.'

'Are you moving from that spot anytime soon?'

'It's quiet here and there's electricity from those sun-things, so no. '

'Kay~ Just don't get captured!'  
There was no more texts after that and the informant shrugged. That was the most Shizuo had ever said to him through text throughout the whole six years he'd known him.

"Is he joining?", Kida asked with wide and curious eyes.

"I don't know Kida-kun, but if I had to guess: Never."

Izaya's eyes narrowed as he noticed one of Sukeban's ears was swiveled back, picking up sounds that Masaomi and Orihara couldn't. The sounds must have gotten closer because now both ears were angling back. At this point, the teen beside the informant had noticed the horse's weird behavior. The mare completely turned her head to stare at something behind her, the mare's ears angling back and forth quickly. She was nervous. The taller male put a hand on his knife as Kida moved behind him but nonetheless but a hand on his own knife.

"Izaya, we should get on the horse…", Masaomi whispered as Izaya promptly ignored him.

Just when tension had reached it's highest, a pair of wild hares jumped out into the open as they fought. The mare looked at the little creatures in awe as she extended her neck as far as it could go, wanting to touch them but not get too close.

"Just little bunnies, Kida-kun. No reason to run away.", the informant sighed as he started walking away, observing the landscape.

The blonde teen patted the horse's neck to pull her attention from the hares as he followed Izaya. The mare paid hardly any mind to the shorter male as she took a few steps closer to the hares, scaring them away. Sukeban lingered for a few moments longer, sad that the little creatures had run away, before she realized Orihara had gone away from her. The mare whinnied and followed after her beloved informant. Once she caught up to him the Palomino nickered and promptly head bumped the raven-haired man's shoulder so hard, he nearly fell forward. Kida coughed out a laugh that was quickly silenced by a glare from Izaya as the informant adjusted his backpack.


	2. Separated

Kida and Izaya sat silently as they ate what food they'd brought along in their quick exit out of the city. The pair had found a small strip of forest that offered cover from any peering eyes and relieved Sukeban of her bridle and saddle. The horse in question was currently grazing on some nearby grass, her tail swishing lazily as she leisurely ate. The sun was now on its way down, being that it was late in the afternoon. Golden light bathed the dried grass and mare, making them glow brightly in the sun.

"So who were you with before all this?", The blonde teen asked as he took another bite of his granola bar.

The informant didn't reply for a long second, his eyes gazing out towards the clearing Sukeban was in. He was thinking and thinking very hard on what to do next. Where should he go from here? Was it better to stay, where he knew the terrain and where to find food, or should he trudge on in search of a safe city or cabin like Shizou?

"I was with me, myself, and I", the raven-haired male responded easily, his mind still focused elsewhere.

Masaomi's eyes went wide for a moment before he remembered that not many people would willingly want to spend any longer than three seconds with him.

"Do you know where Namie might be at least?", the blonde asked as he unconsciously ripped grass out of the ground for lack of anything to do.

"Might be dead, might be alive. I honestly have no clue. I'd like to believe that Namie was smart and fast enough to get out of the building before it came down, but that would be hopeful thinking.", Izaya sighed as he pushed a raisin into his mouth.

The informant hated the taste of the sweet-tasting dried fruit, but he needed to keep his energy up. The raven-haired male wished he could have something that was at least bitter in taste. At two weeks in, Izaya'd do some pretty questionable things for some fatty tuna right now, his most favorite dish.  
"Oh… I , at least, had Saki and Aoba. I let Kuronuma stick around for a long time even though he's like a mini version of you and couldn't stand him.", Kida said as he leaned back into the tree behind him.

"Don't ever say anything like that ever again.", the raven haired male said distastefully as he watched Sukaban's ears swivel back to listen to his aggravated voice.  
Kida let out a sigh and ignored the informant's retort as he looked up through the green foliage above him.

They'd need to find a place to set up a temporary camp and spend the rest of the day setting it up. They'd have problems now that they had the mare to consider. The camp had to be conveniently close to a food and water source while also being hidden enough so the horse won't be spotted.

"Don't you think we should get moving? It's not safe to be out here, the horse gives our position away.", Kida said as he turned to the older male beside him.

Izaya sighed and let his eyes fall closed, his face looking stressed with having to thoroughly process everything before jumping into it. It was easier when he just had to worry about himself, but now he had Masaomi and a damn mare to account for.

"It's risky moving around so soon after a city raid, but it'd be also risky to be within city limits with a horse hinting at our location… What to do.", Orihara said letting his eyes open and gaze up at the sky in thought.

The blonde was quiet and patient as he let the informant think. Izaya wasn't being annoyingly slow at deciding things for no reason. Analyzing every possible outcome of doing this or that was mandatory if they were going to make it out here.

"That cabin that Shizou has would have been perfect if we'd found it first.", the raven haired male began with a sigh, " Cabins tend to be in locations that are hidden for privacy and have a lot of outdoor space. If we had a place like that it would be perfect minus having to make long trips back to the city or hunting when we run out of food."

The blonde's eyes lit up with the prospect of such a safe location and group. With having the bartender there along with Izaya they'd have brawn and brains to squeeze them out of tight situations. They also had a horse which was very useful in terms of making those long trips to and from the city, short and easy.

"Who says we can't share? We have something that'd be useful to him, Sukeban. If we use that as leverage we might be able to win him over.", Kida suddenly burst out making Izaya blink.

"...Has Kida bumped his head or something or is he actually suggesting that Shizu-chan and I occupy the same space?"

"Izaya, don't be like that!", Masaomi yelled getting heated, "This is a life and death situation and you're really going to let hatred and pride stand the way of survival? He has a safe place with solar panels, most likely running water, and enough space for Sukeban. Shizou has everything we need!"

Izaya winced as the teen's loud voice nearly burst his eardrums. He was extremely noisy and any more loud protest will not only rile Sukeban up, but also hint to others nearby that someone is over here. Kida was painfully right, they needed what Shizou had. It was convenient and they had nowhere else to go.

"Fine. I'll ask Shizu-chan to let us come live with him, but I bet the answer will be no anyways", the informant sighed as he dialed Shizou's number.

The shorter blonde waited with baited breath as the phone connected with the older blonde's and made a droning sound, signaling that it was waiting for the bartender to answer.

"What?", a gruff voice answered on the last ring.

"Hey Shizu-chan~! Miss my voice ye-?", Izaya was cut off from the shorter blonde snatching the cellphone from his hands.

"Let me talk since you're already trying to make him say no not even three seconds into the conversation.", Kida hissed as he turned to speak into the phone.

"It's me, Masaomi Kida…I need to ask you something", the teen began carefully, waiting for a response.

"I'm listening.", the older answered after a long pause.  
"We don't have anywhere to stay an-"

"I'm not staying under the same roof as-"

"AND before you say no, let me put what we have to offer on the table.", Kida interrupted.

The silence following that and the fact that the bartender was still on the phone was enough to convince him that it was okay to continue.

"I'm guessing that the cabin you're in is pretty far from the city and doesn't have much food in it, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well I think a horse would be perfect for making runs to the city for food since they travel much more quickly than us. They can also carry a lot more than us too."

" 'Suppose so."

"What I'm saying is that if you let us stay with you then you get a horse and a horse is just what you need. Right now, we have nowhere to put her and your cabin is the perfect place to keep her.", Masaomi finished with a smile plastered on his face.

"Is Flea coming?", Shizou asked.

"...I did say us, didn't I?"

"Then no."

"Wait, Shizou! Izaya is useful, I swear! He's smart and he seems to know what he's doing. His smarts and your strength could make the difference between life and death, free or captured!"

"No."

A sniffle and a shuddery breath emitted from the smaller blonde, making the informant look over.

"Shizou please…", the shorter blonde pleaded, "I'm scared and I don't know what to do…"

Izaya gave him a weird look as Kida continued. He hadn't shown any signs of being fearful about anything; he'd shown determination and tiredness if anything at all.

"My girlfriend got captured because I couldn't protect her and my friend left me because I was dragging him down. I have no one left.", Masaomi said, his sob story seemingly shocking the older blonde into silence.

There was a long pause.

"You can come then... , but without the flea.", Heiwajima finally said.

Kida made dramatic gasp as he feigned panic.

"No, I can't leave him! Never. He saved my life. I would have died if he hadn't saved me from that explosion…", the shorter blonde said with strong emotion.

Orihara held back a snicker at the half-truths that had began mixing in with the actual truth. He had been wondering when that'd happen.

"He didn't even have to save me… He was far out of the reach of the grenade's killing range too, but he came running to save me even though he might've died in the process. Izaya pulled me away before I could blow to bits and that can't go without being repaid.", Kida finished , his story impressive to the informant sitting next to him.

There was a long groan on the other side of the line, easily telling that Shizou was conflicted in this. He genuinely liked Kida enough, but the kid refused to leave Izaya's side.

"Fine…Take him with you. I swear I'll kick his fucking ass if he starts to get annoying though, so keep a tight leash on the bastard.", Heiwajima growled.

"A leash? What made you think of that Shizu-chan? Someone's a little kin-"

"Thank you so much! I'll hang up so you can give me some directions.", Masaomi interrupted with a nervous laugh before he pressed the end call button.  
The small blonde looked over at Izaya and glared, picking up a small rock to chuck at him. The informant dodged the object easily, a playful smirk etched onto his face.

"Why do you always have to do that?", Masaomi said in an irritated voice.

"Do what?", Izaya teased as he stood up and took his cellphone back from the younger male.

"You know what I mean, Izaya.", the blonde growled back as he watched the informant bring his fingers to his mouth and whistle for Sukeban, who in turn immediately lifted her curious head and galloped over once she realized her informant was calling for her.

The palomino mare happily nickered as she pushed her head forward into the raven-haired male's chest. The informant chuckled a little bit as he ran his fingers through Sukeban's white mane, combing out the snags there diligently. The anglo-arab nosed at him as Orihara combed through her hair, seemingly checking for any injury he may have sustained. When she was satisfied with her inspection, she turned her head to the side and reached out for Kida, her long neck stretching as far as possible for him without moving away from Izaya. Masaomi let out a sigh as he walked forwards, so the mare could inspect him. The blonde closed his eyes tightly as Sukeban sniffed at his face, blowing warm air at him. Moving on from Kida's face, she began to nose at his hair, making his hair fly about in every direction. The blonde was content to let her do so until she began to lip at his hair, pulling it slightly.

"Ow, Stop!", Kida protested hitting the horse on her nose to get her to pull away.

"Mean, Kida-kun! She's just trying to groom you since you're so dirty.", Izaya teased as he turned to go get the saddle and bridle from the floor nearby.

"I'm not dirty! She's just trying to pull my hair out!"

Orihara grunted with the effort of lifting the saddle again. Thirty five pounds shouldn't be anything to him, yet he struggled to put it on the mare's back anyways. Once he managed to get the bridle back on Sukeban, his cellphone buzzed with a new message.

"Directions?", Masaomi asked as he tugged at the bridle to insure that it was secure.

Izaya typed in his password and found he had a message from the bartender. He opened it and found that he'd received some pretty vague directions. Apparently he was a two-day's walk North-west of the city of Ikebukuro. Orihara immediately knew where he was. Mitsukue, a rural area with mountains. With the horse alternating between a trot and a gallop, it would take them roughly six hours to reach instead of the two days Shizou had to take to get there.

"Yes, albeit some pretty bad ones. He's lucky I'm well versed in geography and know where everything in Japan is.", Orihara sighed as he climbed up onto the mare, followed after by Kida.

"So how long will it take to get there?", the blonde asked.

"About six hours. We'll reach Mitsukue by eleven at night. We also have to head back towards Ikebukuro to get there. It's risky, but I bet we could find a cabin of our own out there eventually so It could be worth it.", Izaya said before he made a clicking noise that started up the horse at an easy gallop.

The blonde was finally used to the mare's gaits, so he didn't startle when they took off towards the city. As the palomino pounded onwards without any problems, Izaya thought about what may be lying ahead. Chances are the Sweepers and the Defense hadn't cleared out yet, so they'd have to go around the city instead of through. Still they might be seen. Horses were extremely valuable to the Sweepers so if they saw Sukeban galloping through, they'd want her. Orihara didn't want to think about what they'd do to retrieve the mare.

Kida had the same thoughts running through his mind as he watched the landscape pass them by in a blurr. It was extremely risky to go anywhere near the city, but the prospect of safety was drawing them in. The blonde tried to keep his mind off of what was to come and instead thought about where Aoba may be at the moment and if he'd been captured already. The thought made something in Masaomi tense, a sense of worry rushing over him. No matter how much he hated Kuronuma, he wouldn't wish the fate of being experimented on and thrown into the battlefield on anyone. Anxiety for the shorter teen arose in the blonde as his breath came out in short gasps. If the Aoba got captured it'd be all his fault for letting him walk away, just like he was at fault for his girlfriend being taken. Kida wouldn't be able to live with himself if he found that both Saki and Kuronuma were in a living hell, while he had somewhere safe and comfortable to live.

Izaya felt the teen's harsh breath on his neck but didn't say anything, thinking it was either the prospect of danger or that Sukeban's gait was making him nervous. The blonde suddenly felt conflicted. Maybe he should stay in the city and look for the younger teen and then follow after Orihara after he'd found him. Masaomi mused it over, carefully thinking everything through before he shook his head clear. He was being more than a little delusional if he was really considering this at all. He hates the kid anyways. What had Aoba ever done for him? The shorter teen was nothing but a dick to him all the time. Even so, he still felt he needed to find him.  
The trio hadn't gone too far from the city, so they reached its limits in fifteen minutes. As Izaya slowed the palomino to a walk, he listened for any sounds of gunfire or explosions, but heard nothing. The horse under the pair huffed for breath as they continued on in a walk, keeping to the outskirts. The informant turned his head from the sight of fires devouring half the city as Kida stared straight into it. The teen wondered how many people had died to the flames and then he wondered if Aoba was one of the victims. A sick feeling settled in Masaomi's stomach as the mare suddenly snorted at something up ahead, making the blonde finally turn away from the horrific scene.

"It's a cattle truck…and it's full.", Orihara said as he turned the horse to the left to move as far out from it as possible.  
Kida stared at the truck, listening to the cries of scared people. He was about to turn away and ask Izaya to hurry up and get out of here when he saw four men on horseback trot up to the cattle car, people with their hands tied running alongside. One, he quickly noticed, broke free of his binds, catching the three of the four men's attention.

"Get that damn kid! If he gets free again, I swear I'll put you back on stable duty!", the fourth man growled as he opened the cattle truck to file in the new haul.  
The blonde felt his heart drop when he realized who it was that had managed to get free; Aoba. The shorter teen's eyes wavered where he stood, cornered by three men with a pocketknife in hand. Without thinking or waiting for another second, Masaomi jumped off the mare and raced towards Kuronuma.

"Kida!", Izaya yelled out in shock as the blonde ran headfirst into the group surrounding Aoba.

The yell attracted the attention of the fourth man to the informant.

"Screw the fucking kid, get the guy on Kiro's horse!", he yelled making the three men surrounding the now two teens, turn to look at Izaya.

Orihara cursed and urged Sukeban forward, galloping past the cattle truck and on towards his destination. The four men were quickly at his heels, making Izaya feel relieved that Kida would be able to get away now. The sound of horses behind the mare must have made her excited because the informant could have sworn that the mare was never this fast. Though Sukeban seemed faster, the sound of horse's hooves behind them became closer and closer. Izaya clicked his tongue and kicked his legs against the mare's sides to urge her to go faster as he felt fear began to bubble up inside of him. With the way things were going, he'd be captured.

"You fucking bastard!", one of the men spat at him from a distance.

"Fucking put a bullet in him!", another man said making Orihara's blood run cold.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion after that comment. Izaya could hear the steady and hard breaths under him. The sound of hooves seemed to reach his ears slower as his surroundings whizzed by slowly. The informant looked to his right side and saw the city, but this time he really saw it. Orange flames licked at the air as smoke billowed out of buildings making the sky a blood red color in the evening sunlight. Nothing in this country would ever be the same. Hell, nothing in the whole damn world would ever be the same. Humans had finally reached the point of no return. Life wouldn't exist after this, this was the end and not just for the informant but the whole of humanity. Izaya's chest tightened as he realized that this might be the last thing he ever sees, the blood sky and his city aflame. Then it happened. A gun went off loudly as a stinging pain started in his shoulder, jerking him to life.

The sound of a painful cry, a gunshot, and the smell of blood behind the mare made her neigh and her feet work even faster under her as she realized the danger. Pushing through the pain, Orihara kicked at the mare with more urgency. He was still alive, but who knew how long he'd last with the men right behind him.  
"Cease your fire! You'll hit the damn horse!" the leader of the pack yelled out, making Izaya nearly sigh in relief. That relief was short lived, though, when he heard the horses draw even closer to Sukeban, whose speed was quickly decreasing.

"No! No! You can't tire out on me now!", Orihara yelled, the mare's ears swiveling back to listen to her informant.

This couldn't end like this. The raven haired man refused to die this way. He had to survive. He couldn't give into his humans yet.

"Come on, I know you have plenty left in you! You're faster and you can run for a longer time, so don't give me this shit!" , the male yelled in frustration.

Izaya continued to plead and urge with the beast on, when all the sudden the mare caught a second wind. Her strides became longer and her neck stretched further as she broke out into a complete run. The sounds behind them quickly began to fade as the mare easily outran the heavier stallions. Sukeban's breath came out in huffs as she continued to pick up speed, her hooves thundering in the grass, throwing chunks of earth up behind her. The informant felt like crying as powerful legs burst them forward, tail raised and white hair whipping through the wind. The mare put some real distance between them and their pursuers, finally proving her superiority over the Holsteiners.

She easily ran up a rather large and steep hill without her pace slowing, while the heavier horses had more difficulty. Their endurance was getting sapped away by the weight of their riders and heavy saddles on their back. Izaya was considerably lighter than the heavier set men as was the saddle on Sukeban's back. The hill was the end for their pursuers because by the time they reached the top, the palomino was already far away.

"We can't tire them out any more than this, we have things to do and we have to get back before we get in trouble for insubordination.", the leader said after a long moment of just watching Izaya ride away, turning his horse as the others followed suit.

The informant almost screamed with relief when he ceased to hear the horses behind them anymore. He slowed the mare back to an easy lope so she could catch her breath. This pace was comfortable for the mare's breed, so she could maintain the speed for long periods of time. Once the adrenaline of what had happened died down, Orihara fully felt his gun wound and finally noticed all the blood leaking from it. He cursed at the prospect of having to cut up one of his extra shirts before it dawned on him that Kida was no longer with him and he'd most likely never see him again. A heavy feeling hit him until he pushed it away. There was no room for sorrow in the game of survival.

Izaya stopped the horse for a moment and pulled his backpack off his shoulders, taking extra care not to let the straps graze his right shoulder. Quickly pulling out a spare shirt, he cut a strip of it off with his pocketknife and managed to painfully tie the cloth around his shoulder tightly. The informant could feel pain race down his body every time he moved his arm. Izaya cursed at his luck, but he supposed he should be thankful though. The bullet hadn't gone through only to hit the mare in a fatal area. With a kick to the horse's sides, he was off towards his destination again; praying that he didn't bleed out before he arrived as the horse sloped on.  
It was a lonely ride and the informant would have loved to tease Kida just to fill the silence. Izaya knew that the pair would have been able to at least get away then, when he drew attention to himself with that yell, but he didn't know whether they simply ran into another squad of Sweepers afterwards. He could predict that Kida, if he wasn't either killed or captured, would try and make his way to Mistukue. If Kida was separated from Kuronuma though, he'd never make it. Masaomi didn't have the best sense of where north, south, east, and west were, but Izaya was sure Aoba did.

The stinging in the informant's shoulder eventually died down to a dull throb as he and the horse reached Mistukue. Izaya was feeling extremely light-headed at the moment and it took a lot for him to not fall off of the horse. Pulling his cellphone out, Orihara dialed Shizou's number. The blonde picked up on the second ring, just in time to catch Izaya's groan of pain.

"Izaya?", the blonde asked in a confused tone.

"Where are you, Shizu-chan? I'm here.", the dark haired male grit out as he tried to keep his breath steady.

There was a long pause as the bartender simply listened to Orihara's labored breathing. Izaya wasn't acting like his normal, annoying self and it threw Heiwajima off completely.

"I'll come down to you, what street are you on?", Shizou asked as the sound of shuffling came through the line.

"That'll take too long. Just tell me what streets to take and meet me halfway.", Izaya hissed as his pain made him irritable.

Shizou did as asked, but didn't hang up afterwards. He could hear Izaya's breath becoming more labored every passing minute as the pain seemed to increase in his shoulder.

"Shizou?", Orihara said through his breaths, throwing the taller male off again by calling him by his full name.

"...Yeah?"

"Do you have a first aid kit in the cabin? Also a needle and some thread?", Izaya asked.

"I have a first aid kit, but I don't know about a needle and thread. Why?"

"I've been shot and I need to clean the wound and sew it up to stop the bleeding…", the male said easily as the palomino tossed her head at the distressed voice of her informant.

"...Shit.", Shizou cursed as he looked around the cabin for what they needed.

There was a sewing machine in one corner of the place, but he needed a needle that wasn't attached to it. Quickly the blonde opened the drawer under the machine. He found it to be full of thread and Heiwajima quickly finds that there aren't any needles.

"I found more thread than you'd ever need, but no needles.", Shizou said as he walked to the front door of the cabin, slipping his shoes on before he left.

"We'll have to just clean and bandage it then and hope I don't bleed out .", Izaya groans as he finds holding the reins more and more difficult with pain racing down his arm.

"I'm on my way to you now.", the blonde promised as Orihara nodded even though the taller male couldn't see him.

The informant made a clicking noise that made the mare break out into a trot as he looked at the street signs. He made many lefts and rights until he made it to a dirt trail that led into a forest. Not even three horse-steps into the path he heard footsteps ahead, spooking Sukeban a bit as the mare shifted nervously.

"Is that you Shizu-chan?", Izaya asked into the phone as he stared ahead.

"Yeah! It's me!", Shizou called back from the darkness.

Orihara stopped the horse as the blonde walked closer, the mare in turn extended her neck to investigate the newcomer.

"Just grab the reins and lead her to the cabin.", the raven-haired said tiredly as Shizou walked up and let the palomino sniff at him while he pet her for a moment.

A nod followed as the bartender grabbed hold of the reins and used them to lead her deeper into the brush. Shizou was silent the whole way back while Izaya occasionally let out groans whenever the mare jostled him around too much. The place was medium sized, most likely with two rooms and was alive with light from within.

"This is it.", the blonde said as he stopped in the clearing near the cabin.

"Take off Sukeban's bridle and saddle. I'm going inside.", Izaya responded as he slid off the mare.

The raven haired male stumbled a bit as his knees buckled once weight was put onto his legs, falling into the horse's side and riling her up. The palomino turned her head to sniff and Orihara until she found the source of the blood smell. She neighed softly at Izaya as she attempted to lick the wound clean through the fabric. The informant in turn pushed her away as he pushed off of her and walked unsteadily to the cabin as Shizou watched, making sure he didn't fall on the way there. Once he was safely inside, Orihara plopped onto the couch and took his temporary bandage off.

With extreme difficulty, the male managed to pull off his jacket and his shirt afterwards, exposing the angry and horrific looking wound. He couldn't hesitate, so he ignored the sick feeling in his stomach and grabbed the rubbing alcohol resting on the table. With shaking hands, Izaya held the bottle of clear liquid and tried to steel his nerves. The informant quickly realized that he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't do this himself because he wouldn't willingly hurt himself.

As if on cue, Shizou walked back in. The blonde looked down at the bleeding wound and then back up to Orihara's face that was looking up at him seriously.

"I need you to do it. I can't do it myself."

A look of panic filled Heiwajima's eyes as he took a step back.

"I-I can't do it. I don't know what I'm doing!"

"It's simple enough, even a protozoan could do it.", Izaya sighed as he held out the bottle to the blonde.

"I'm not doing this shit!", the bartender yelled as he turned his head away from Orihara.

"Shizou, I will die if you don't do this. I don't know if you care about that or not, but stopping the bleeding and bandaging me up would be less strenuous than digging a hole around back."

The blonde was silent as he watched Izaya's chest heave and the wound in question continue to leak blood. In all honesty, Shizou didn't want to watch someone die slowly. Unlike Orihara, he actually had human emotions.

"...Let me wash my hands.", the blonde says shakily as he walks over to the kitchen.

As the raven haired male waited for the bartender to wash his hands and grab the first aid kit, he took the liberty of dabbing up the blood a little bit. He was nervous and he knew full well how badly this would hurt. With no painkillers, this would be hell.

When Heiwajima returned to the couch, he looked just as nervous as the injured informant did. With a clean rag in hand, the blonde poured a generous amount of rubbing alcohol onto it before moving closer to the shorter male's exposed back. Izaya quickly shook his head making the bartender stop immediately.  
"Just take the whole bottle and pour it into the wound...Dabbing would take too long", Orihara huffed out as Shizou turned to grab the bottle.  
When the burning liquid touched his bullet wound, Izaya couldn't suppress the hiss and high-pitched groan that followed as he jerked away. It hurt even more than the actual gunshot and that was really saying something. Orihara slammed his foot into the wooded floor as the stinging refused to cease, his breath becoming even more labored. The bartender stopped when he saw how much pain the informant was in and began to think he couldn't do this after all, much to Izaya's irritation.  
"Don't you dare wuss out on me now, you damn brute! What happened to you wanting to hurt me since the second you met me?", the raven haired male said through grit teeth as he turned so Heiwajima could do the exit spot next.

The blonde visibly grew tense at the name he'd been called, his grip on the bottle of alcohol tightening and crushing the plastic so it went inwards. Without any more hesitation and a cold look, the blonde poured the burning liquid onto Izaya's front. He immediately regretted being so cruel though, when the raven haired teen dug his hands into the couch and wrenched his eyes shut; a whine pushing past his lips despite his best efforts to keep it in.  
"...Stop...the bleeding.", the informant said huskily, making Shizou jump into action.

Heiwajima disappeared back into the kitchen quickly and returned with two fresh rags. One to go under Izaya and one to go on top to stop the bleeding on both sides. The blonde quickly laid one rag down on the couch and urged the shorter male to lay back onto it. Once the informant was on his back, the bartender pressed another rag into his right shoulder and pushed down on it. His stomach lurched as the red liquid seeped onto his hands. Orihara hissed at the action as his ruby eyes began to water a bit while his brows furrowed.

"Does it hurt?", the blonde mumbled as he watched an expression he'd never seen on Izaya before.

"Nooo…", the informant began sarcastically,"It feels so incredibly wonderful to have liquid fire thrown onto a deep wound and then have someone press down onto it."  
Shizou's eye twitched at the answer.

"I'm trying to be nice, so can you not be an annoying asshole for once?", the blonde said as he continued to press into the wound.

"If hurting me and expecting me not to be snappy is being nice to you, then you're sadistic Shizu-chan.", the raven haired male chuckled weakly, a slight smirk finding its way to his lips.

"You made me hurt you, so stop whining.", Shizou said as he lifted the rag and deemed the wound's bleeding ceased enough to bandage it.

"Mean, Shizu-chan~", the informant grunted as he sat back up.

There was a general silence after that as the blonde dressed and bandaged the wound tightly. Outside they could hear the sounds of crickets and frogs and even the occasional snort from Sukeban.

"So where's Kida?", the bartender asked suddenly, catching the informant off guard.

Shizou saw Izaya's eyes grow dark as an air of seriousness filled the air.

"We rode past a cattle truck and Kida-kun saw one of his friends about to get thrown in, so he jumped off and ran to him.", the informant explained.

"And you just let him go!?", the blonde said, thinking that it was just like the heartless bastard.

"I couldn't just run off after him since the sweepers came running at me so they could get the horse. The whole squad came after me so in that, I gave them both a chance to escape.", Izaya said without regarding Shizou's comment.

"...Would you have saved him if they weren't coming after you?", the blonde said after a long pause, finishing putting the bandage on the shorter male.  
The raven haired teen let out a long sigh as he let his head fall back onto the back of the couch.

"No. I can't put myself at risk for someone else's recklessness.", the male responded easily, making Heiwajima bristle at the answer.

"What happened to you saving Kida before, despite you possibly dying?", the blonde demanded.

"Kida ran into me while I was running out of the city, quite literally might I add. A grenade was launched at us and I grabbed his arm and ran from the explosion. It was no heroic act that I risked my life for.", the raven haired male sighed.

"You could have let him die, but you didn't.", the bartender said mostly to himself.

"So?"

"So you still saved him, idiot!"

Sukeban let out a shrill noise at Shizou's loud and angry voice, making the blonde jump and the informant laugh.

"She must be lonely, Shizu-chan, you should go out and talk to her", the informant deducted as he painfully stood up and walked down the hall, towards one of the rooms.

"Where the hell are you going?", the blonde asked after him.

"To sleep."  
-Prologue for the next chapter-

Kida felt like his lungs were about ready to burst as he continued to run in the general direction that Izaya had gone in, Aoba running a little behind him. They had just made it outside the city limits and had witnessed things they never thought they'd ever be witness to. People who were burning in flames cried out for their help while they simply ran on. Young children wailed as they found themselves all alone and the old simply prayed to be spared and readied themselves for whatever was coming for them.

"Wait, Masaomi!", Kuronuma finally called out as he struggled to keep up.

The blonde stopped and let the shorter teen catch up. There was a long moment's pause as Aoba tried to catch his breath.

"...Why?", the shorter huffed," ...Why... did you save me?"

Silence followed as Masaomi's gaze looked back at the flames behind them before he turned around and walked forward.

"I don't know.", he replied simply as he continued onwards.

Kuronuma stood there in a state of confusion as he looked back at the city for a moment. Seeing the flames there made him immediately turn back around and jog to catch back up with Kida.


	3. Tomorrow

"Shut up and get down!", Kida hissed as he pushed the younger male next to him down so he'd be hidden by the boulder.

Aoba huffed indignantly at being told to hold his tongue as Masaomi crouched down next to him. The distinct sound of horse hooves passed them by at a leisurely pace, followed by the squeaking of wheels belonging to a carriage full of what they assumed to be small children. The pitiful wails coming from within made Kida's stomach turn while Kuronuma didn't feel any particular way about it. Once the carriage passed and was a ways off, the blonde peered over the top of the boulder and looked around. Seeing that there was no one around other than the people in the carriage, Masaomi stood up and continued walking the straight path he'd been taking.  
Aoba sighed and stood up on his tired legs. They'd been walking all night and now it was early morning. In the grey light, fog settled heavily in the empty valley. Dew hung from blades of brown grass and a chill seeped into the teen's bones.

"I can't walk for two days straight, Kida. I need to sleep for a little bit.", Kuronuma said as he found himself sinking back to the ground.

The blonde turned and looked at the shorter male before running a hand through his soft hair, stress obvious in his demeanor.

"We're going.", he said simply.

"I'M staying. You can go if you want.", Aoba growled back, a glare settling on his face.

Masaomi sighed and walked back up to the shorter teen; all the while the first-year staring him down. When Kida was standing right in front of Kuronuma, the younger teen held his chin up high in a challenge, but the blonde wasn't having any of it. Pulling him up by the hood of his jacket, the older simply turned back around and pulled the smaller teen along. At first, Aoba made distressed choking noises, but once he was able to walk in a way that wouldn't have his air pipe cut off, he let Masaomi have it.

"What the hell, Kida! I just told you I can't walk anymore!"

"Keep it down, the sweepers will hear you if you keep it up.", the blonde replied as he kept trudging forward.

Aoba closed his mouth immediately after that comment and began to walk on his own, making Masaomi let him go. The younger teen understood how Kida felt, honestly he did. He would like to live too, but the Aoba wasn't a damn machine that never tired. Kuronuma knew that getting to Mitsukue was extremely important, but his legs were beginning to shake violently now. No matter how good getting to a safe cabin sounded, it didn't stop the shorter teen's legs from giving up on him not even a few yards from the Boulder they were hiding behind. Kida, hearing the thump of the teen falling to his knees, turned with a glare.

"I really can't walk anymore.", Aoba explained as he let himself sink to his rear.

The blonde ran a hand through his hair again and looked around as if there were people lurking in the fog, just waiting to pounce once they had the chance. He honestly looked like he didn't want to stop even once until they were safely in the cabin, but what was he going to do? Carry the underclassmen all the way there?

"Fine.", Kida finally sighed, "We'll stay here until midday and then we're going."

After his defeat, the blonde slowly sat down next to the shorter teen and spread his legs out in front of him; arms behind the blonde to hold him upright. He would be lying if he said getting his weight off his legs didn't feel good. No sooner had Masaomi got comfortable, a head of dark hair leaned into his shoulder, using him as a human pillow without, so much as asking permission. Kida tsked, but didn't push the younger away. It was only practical that they would use each other for warmth and cushions given the situation. The blonde cursed softly when he felt a sudden exhaustion roll over him as Kuronuma's warmth sunk into his chilled bones. He was tired too, but he couldn't sleep while they were out in the open. That was a literal death wish and Kida has never been suicidal, so he steeled himself and kept his eyes peeled for any sign of life within the heavy fog.

Despite how he promised himself he wouldn't, Masaomi wound up falling asleep soon after Aoba did. The blonde woke with a start and found that he'd somehow managed to wind up on his back. Along with this discovery, he also found that Aoba had managed to use the older's stomach as a pillow without waking up the blonde. Kida gave a quick look of disgust before he moved his attention elsewhere.

Looking up, he saw that the sun was low in the sky; just a little past the midday mark. They had stayed for too long. When the blonde moved to get up, he heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. The upperclassmen froze on the spot as he looked down and saw a pistol aimed at his face from a few feet away.

"Don't move unless I ask you to."

Masaomi swallowed heavily as his eyes slowly drifted from the barrel of the gun to the actual attacker. Long blonde hair and a pale face came into view along with piercing blue eyes. Kida knew this girl, or at least he'd seen her around and knew her name.

"...Vorona?"

Blue eyes widened in recognition. She turned her head to yell something in Russian to someone behind her and then she glued her eyes back to Masaomi. A familiar dark-skinned man along with a shorter, but no less familiar pale skinned man, came into view and the blonde felt his heart leap in relief. Aoba soon woke up when he felt the presence of other people and slowly sat up, his hands still resting on the older male's stomach and gripping into the fabric of Kida's jacket.

"Simon! Dennis! Thank god it's you and not those Sweepers!" Kida yelled in happiness as he quickly sat up.

Simon's brows furrowed as he said nothing and turned his head away. Masaomi then knew that something was definitely up. His smile died on his lips as he exchanged a look with Aoba.  
Varona was hurriedly talking to Dennis in Russian as she stole glances down at the two. The pale skinned old man looked at them with a remorseful gaze all the while before he sighed and looked away as well.

"Throw them in back.", another male said behind them making them all jump.

This man was extremely tall, had bandages wrapped around his nose, mouth, and chin, and had light brown hair.

"But Egor… We know these two…", Dennis replied, his eyes turning back to the pair huddled on the ground with his eyes still reflecting remorse.

"I don't care. We have orders and that's to bring back test subjects to the ship. These are the first two we've come across in three days and we can't go back empty handed.", Egor responded as he walked back towards the carriage they were using that looked more like a giant wagon.

Aoba tensed up and looked as if he were going to make a run for it, but before he could even twitch, Varona had pulled out a second pistol and was aiming at his head too.

"Come. We have orders."

Izaya groaned as he came to, a ray of sunlight suddenly hitting his face. His shoulder ached and the informant was sure that his bandages needed to be changed. Looking around the room, he found himself in a comfortable bed and not down in some dark cellar. Bright morning light filtered in through the window and Orihara could clearly see Sukeban glowing in the sunlight, grazing peacefully.

"Right. I've decided to meet up with the monster I despise…", the informant sighed as he sat up with much difficulty and stood.

No matter how much he longed to just lay in bed and sleep for three days straight, he had to change his bandages or risk infection. Walking out into the hallway, Izaya immediately saw that Shizou had fallen asleep on the couch. Orihara rolled his eyes at the stupidity of that since there was, in fact, another room with a bed. Izaya walked up to the coffee table that still had the dressing and bandages on top of it. With a huge sigh the raven haired male turned to look at his injured shoulder, still covered in bandages but with a little bit of blood showing through here and there.

Painfully, he reached up and began to take the bandage off. Orihara hissed when the fabric had to be ripped from the healing skin at the wound site, but other than that, he took the pain quietly. Not wanting to look at the unnerving hole in his body for too long, Izaya quickly dressed and re-bandaged himself before he went into the kitchen to wash his hands.

Vaguely, Orihara thought about looking around the cabinets for something to eat, but found that he had no appetite at the moment. With a sigh, the informant dried his hands and turned to look at the simple room. There were no books or magazines laying around, but there was a DVD player though and the T.V that it was plugged into. Izaya made a mental note to look around for some movies later on, but right now the thought of staying inside was absolutely revolting to him.

A snort came from just outside the cabin door and Orihara found himself walking over to open it up. Bright light assaulted his vision, burning his irises for a few long moments before his eyes adjusted. Sukeban was as calm as ever as she curiously watched two small birds fight over what seemed to be a worm. Her short ears were angled forward and her nostrils were flared to drink in the birds' scent as she crept closer. Eventually and inevitably, the mare got too close and the jittery little creatures took off in fear, the worm forgotten. Izaya softly chuckled at the palomino's antics as the horse stared longingly into the tree the birds had flown into, her whole demeanor breathed sadness at being unable to make friends with them.

"Keep trying, Suke-chan. I'm sure one animal in this forest is bound to like you.", Orihara laughed as the mare immediately nickered a response and trotted up to him happily.

The raven held a hand out, waiting for the horse to press her nose into it on her own accord. After their usual greeting, Sukeban carefully nosed at his hair, his neck, and very carefully over his bandaged shoulder. Izaya was genuinely surprised that a creature of her size was so gentle and yet so powerful; how she seemed to be almost at the intellical level of a young human child. Orihara had come across a lucky find. The mare made soft noises that could only be described as cooing when the informant reached up to comb her messy mane back into place.

"You know… We probably should have named you Shizou since your coat color is the same shade as his hair.", Izaya joked as he ran a hand down the mare's long, elegant neck.

The horse snorted loudly at that and the raven found himself stupidly laughing again. From inside, Shizou was curiously listening to the light, soft, and genuine laughs coming from the informant. It was a sound he'd never heard come from the male even when said raven was laughing directly at him and Heiwajima vaguely wondered if Izaya's face still had traces of a smirk even when his voice sounded so light and jittery. Standing up stiffly, the bartender made his way to the cabin door and opened it casually. The blonde wasn't prepared for the sight of Orihara playfully blowing air at Sukeban's nose, making her snort and raise her tail in a playful gesture, even though he expected a change in behavior.

Chuckling, the informant repeated the action two more times and before he could do it a third time, the mare took off running the other way, throwing her back legs up playfully as she took a lap around the clearing. Afterward, she trotted back up to her raven and simply rested her great head on top of Izaya's own, the informant gently tucked under her chin. The informant quirked a brow and looked up, his hair becoming a mess, pressed under the horse's cheek.

"What do you want? A hug?", Orihara laughed as he ducked his head out from under Sukeban and finally realized someone had been watching them.

"Lurking around like some pervert now, are we?", Izaya smirked as he turned to face him.

"What are you doing, flea?", Heiwajima asked gruffly, ignoring the obvious jab at him.

"She was so lonely that she was trying to make friends with a couple birds fighting over breakfast.", Orihara explained, "It was so endearing that I took some pity upon her and came out to keep her company. Why does it matter to you?"

Shizou didn't say anything for a long moment as his eyes narrowed.

"I don't trust you or this fucking act you're putting on. You want something. I don't know what it could possibly be, but you want something. There's always something with you. Maybe you got yourself shot on purpose and even left Kida just to follow this plan of yours.", the blonde finally growled as he drew close to Orihara's face.

Izaya smirked all the while though his eyes looked absolutely murderous.

"Let me just get one thing clear, Flea. I don't trust you. Never have and never will.", Shizou spat.

"Oh dear~! You've caught me, Shizu-chan!", the informant began sarcastically, "I got myself physically injured just to come all the way here on the chance that you may or may not help me."

Shizou stood his ground as Izaya, in turn, got in his face.

"Answer me this, Shizu-chan. Why would I risk my life for something like this? What do you have that is possibly worth putting my life on the line for? And why, honestly now, why would I get rid of Kida? What point is there in that? He's more useful to me while he's with me if anything.", Izaya hissed.

Suddenly Heiwajima felt stupid. When the informant put it all into words, it didn't make as much sense as it did in his head.

"Come on, Suke-chan.", Orihara said as he walked off towards the little pathway trail they had used to walk to the cabin the night before.

Izaya had heard running water the last night amongst his pain and he was a hundred percent positive that the palomino needed to be watered. Sukeban, not acquainted well with her name yet, didn't know she was being called but her informant was walking away from her and that meant she was to follow.

"Where are you going?", Shizou asked suspiciously once they were halfway across the clearing.

"To get her some water, Protozoan. I'd think you'd be able to deduct that since there's no water here, she's obviously not been drinking the required amount she's supposed to.", Izaya scoffed, making Heiwajima shoot him a deadly glare.

Shizou had been wondering since last night if this was even all real. Did the flea really come to this cabin, or was he finally losing it after being completely alone since this all started? The flea was being so uncharacteristic last night, but the bartender suspected that must be because he'd taken a bullet through his shoulder and was slowly dying. After sitting alone with his thoughts all night, though, the blonde started to become suspicious and paranoid. From his past experiences, having Orihara around always spelled disaster and disaster right now was not what he needed.  
With a sigh, Shizou walked back into the cabin he was slowly starting to despise. All he'd ever seen for the past long and drawn out week were the four white walls of the front room. With no books, newspapers, or job to keep the bartender occupied, he found that he was slowly wondering what the point of it all was. Life was centered around adult responsibilities and money. Without it, what was there left?

Heiwajima had one goal, though, that kept his mind occupied enough for him not to lose it. He had to find his boss, Tom, and his brother, Kasuka. He'd promised himself he'd look around for them the first chance he got; try to fish out some leads with some intimidation, but honestly, the bartender didn't even know where to start. Shizou wasn't one for things that required too much thinking or planning, that was Izaya's gig.

A growl resonated from Shizou's stomach and he decided he'd better eat something. Take-out was all he'd ever eaten when he lived alone, so he didn't know how to cook anything of nutritional value. Heiwajima had always promised himself he'd learn from Tom, but he never got around to asking out of either embarrassment or forgetfulness. Because of this, the blonde had been limiting himself to eating snacks... lots of them. As of now, though, there weren't anymore left. At loss of what to do, the bartender sat on the couch and thought; his hands folded under his chin as he stared at the cabinets from the living room.

Kida leaned back into the wall of the carriage, his eyes burning with molten hatred as Aoba sat in an uncharacteristic silence that made the blonde feel a little uneasy.

"Can you at least tell us what they're going to do to us?", the older of the two teens asked, his intense gaze resting on the tall, mostly silent, and bandaged man that was against the opposite wall; watching them closely whilst twisting a hunter's knife around in his hands.  
The man's movements stopped as his eyebrows raised. Blue eyes narrowed as he looked the smaller male up and down with a cold, calculating gaze. When the teen didn't waver under his scrutinizing eyes, the man sighed and leaned back into the wall behind him.  
"What do the rumors say?", Egor asked in weird sounding Japanese as he scratched an ear casually.

Masaomi's brow quirked at this, but he responded nonetheless.

"That the Sweepers take you to government-run concentration camps and experiment on you. Then, once you're perfected, they force you to fight on the battlefield."

The light brown haired man chuckled a couple times before he leaned forward again, his eyes captured in the fiery gaze of the blonde once again.

"You aren't wrong, but you aren't right either.", the man said as he began to turn his hunting knife over in his hands again, "These camps you speak of, are not concentration camps. They are military training camps."

Kida feels Kuronuma shudder beside him, but he can't tell if it's because of the cold chill sweeping in from the open end of the carriage or the fear of the future.

"So what's the plan from here then?", the blonde asked, not once breaking eye contact.

"You have a lot of questions... ", Egor stated as his eyes became cold again, "I'll slit your throat along with your little boyfriend's if you even think of escaping."

Brown eyes stayed glued to blue-grey ones as a smirk found its way onto the smaller male's lips.

"You wouldn't do it. You can't. We're the first people you've come across in three days and you just can't come back empty handed now, could you?"

The tension in the small space seemed to intensify as the man stopped turning his knife in his hand and gripped it tightly. His piercing gaze bore down into Kida's unwavering one as Aoba looked back and forth between them while silently cursing Masaomi, his ancestors, and his seed after him. The silence was suddenly broken by a deep, hearty laugh from the Russian man in front of them; his head thrown back in earnest as his grip on his knife loosened.

"I like you, kid", the man sighed as he finally calmed down," You have some real guts, you know that? "

Kida's eyes still held the same burning hatred as before which was now a huge contrast to Egor's softened and light ones.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know, but only because you're the first to stand up to me like that.", the male said before he leaned back as he twisted his hunting knife around again.

"Okay then, which country do you work for?", the blonde asked.

"I've sold my soul to my leader and he has sold his sold to his country. Everything he does is for and because of Russia's leaders."

"So we're being transported to-"

"A camp located in the Siberian wilderness of Russia, south of the city Norilsk.", Egor finished.

"And what's going to happen to us when we get there?"

"First thing, you'll go see the doctor. To check that you are healthy. If not, you are shot through the head, like a horse with a shattered leg. If you are healthy, you are given a shot that puts you to sleep and you go to the scientists."

Kida swallowed slowly as he found himself pushing his body closer to Aoba.

"They then do their magic. Prod around a bit, inject you with a few things, cut you open maybe, and then you go to the rehabilitation barracks until your stitches are all healed up. After that, you go to the training barracks where they teach you how to use your new body for killing purposes.", the man finished as he watched Masaomi's eyes show slight fear before hardening again.

Egor was sure the teen would ask more, but was surprised when he simply got a firm nod in thanks as the blonde turned away to look out the open end of the carriage. The Russian man was going to turn away too, having lost interest, when the smaller teen beside the older caught his attention. The teen was huddled close to Kida, as if he needed to be protected, but his eyes didn't match his actions. Aoba's gaze was wandering over everything, taking in information silently.  
Egor immediately recognized his motive. The underclassmen was making himself seem weak to draw attention to the brazen and fiery Masaomi. By doing this, the teen could freely take in information or carry out actions without arising suspicion.

"...smart.", the Russian murmured as those wandering brown eyes rested on Egor's grey blue ones.

Kuronuma's eyes narrowed immediately after realizing that he'd been had. His gaze gave off a much more intense heat than Kida's and the male found himself struggling not to completely turn his head away. This kid was dangerous, deceptive, and had great intelligence; definitely something Egor would have to watch out for in the future. The man was about to finally speak up to tell him so, but the teen's eyes turned away from him and out the open side of the carriage; avoiding the conversation purposely. The Russian scoffed, but let him be as he busied himself with his knife.

-  
Izaya sighed as he and Sukeban finally reached the stream the informant had heard last night. It was further than expected, but for the mare it was well worth it as she greedily drank.

"Sorry that I didn't give you water sooner, Suke-chan.", Orihara apologized as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through the horse's mane, "You saved my life after all, so the least I could of done was ask Shizu-chan to bring you down here last night."

The raven patiently waited for the palomino to drink her fill as he found himself braiding sections of her mane. It was surprisingly a calming and satisfying pastime and Orihara knew he'd be busying himself with this task more often. When he was nearly done with the last braid, a loud neigh made him jump. It wasn't to the right of him, where Sukeban was with her head now raised, but to the left of him. Following the direction of the mare's gaze, he saw a man far down on the opposite side of the stream leading four horses down to the water. Izaya's eyes narrowed as he recognized the Defense's uniform on the man and thanked God that the palomino hadn't whinnied a greeting to what may have been her horse peers at one point. Turning away and tapping Sukeban's neck to get her attention, the raven walked away from the stream and back to the trail they took to get down here. Luckily, the mare followed immediately and without so much as making a sound.  
Orihara sighed, realizing that no place in Japan was ever truly free of the Sweepers. Hopefully, this squad was only passing through. There would be no reason to stay since the town was empty of any signs of human life. Vaguely, Izaya wondered about the whereabouts of Masaomi. Was he on his way here? Was he injured somewhere? Was he dead? Did he manage to get captured even after Orihara more or less took a bullet for him?

"Hey, you!", a voice spoke a few yards behind the raven, jerking him from his thoughts.

Orihara turned and saw that the man from the stream was standing there as if he'd teleported. Why had he not heard him? The male seemed young, about early twenties if the raven had to guess. His brunette hair was a beautiful shade and the first thing the informant noticed about him. It was dark brown with a burgundy tint to it that glowed in the sun. The male's face had many sharp angles, especially in his cheeks and had a strong jaw. Usually, Izaya found these features a little too exaggerated, but it fit perfectly on this man's face. Above piercing, dark, evergreen eyes were near perfect, broad eyebrows. This man was truly a work of art in every aspect and the raven found himself wondering how perfect he looked under that uniform of his.

"Yes?", Izaya responded, a smirk on his face and a quirk to his brow.

The male blinked as if brought back from a trance and Orihara held back a chuckle. Seems like he wasn't the only one who was wrapped up in someone's looks.

"That's my brother's horse.", the brunette stated flatly as he looked in the raven's brown eyes that seemed to be more of a reddish color.

The color wasn't anything the man had ever seen before in his life. It was so incredibly striking to him, even though many would disagree.

"Is his name Kiro, by any chance?", Izaya asked making the male stiffen slightly.

"Do you happen to know what happened to him? He's missing in action."

Orihara frowned. Telling the truth could have negative effects and that wouldn't be good news for him. He couldn't run due to his injury and was unarmed at the moment. Those honest green eyes held a stubbornness, worry, and underneath it all, a kindness that made Izaya give in. This man wouldn't hurt him.

"I'm not sure if it was your brother at the time, but as I was fleeing from the Defense attack in Ikebukuro, a civilian pulled a gun on a squad that was pursuing them. Shot him through his neck and the horse took off.", Orihara explained, "I found her in the outskirts of the city a few hours later and I rode off on her."

The brunette's eyes reflected sadness as the informant watched on silently.

"Oh...I see… At least Hinata made it.", the male said in a bittersweet voice as he put a hand up for the mare to push her nose into it.

Without any hesitation, Sukeban walked over and did just that as she nickered softly. The brunette ran his hand through the familiar white mane of the anglo arab, pulling the mare's mane nicely between her ears to cover her white stripe marking. it didn't take long for the green eyed male to notice the braids that Izaya had twisted into the mare's hair on the side.

"So I'm guessing that you're going to take her from me then." , Orihara said in a voice that sounded more disappointed than he would have wanted it to sound, " Just don't shoot me through my shoulder like those other idiots did. "

Damn, he didn't mean to sound so much like a pouting child. Izaya quickly noticed that his lips were pulled into a frown too and quickly corrected it.

"No, I wouldn't do that.", the brunette chuckled, " She seems to be in pretty good hands and you seem pretty fond of her anyway."

Orihara felt another frown make its way onto his face and corrected himself again.

"What'd you name her?", the male asked as the mare craned her neck to look at Izaya and neigh at him as if beckoning him closer.

"Kida-kun decided on Sukeban, but I wanted to name her Aki.", Orihara explained as he dared walking just a little closer so that he could place a hand on the palomino's stomach, "I came to a happy medium and decided to call her Suke-chan."

There was a comfortable silence for a long moment as Izaya reached over to the mare's mane to finish the last braid. The brunette watched with silent interest for a few moments before his eyes wandered over to the informant's naked upper-half. The raven was slim and on the more petite side. Though he had a small frame, underneath his perfect pale skin lay muscle. The brunette could tell since the solid structures filled Orihara out in all the right places. The male frowned when his eyes rested on the bandage wrapped around Izaya's right shoulder. What a sin to mark up something so perfect.

"Is it bad?"

"Hmm?"

"The gunshot wound."

"Oh, that.", Izaya sighed, "It hurts and it looks disgusting, but it's not infected."

"I'm sorry…", the brunette replied in a murmur as he averted his eyes to the ground.

Orihara blinked once and then twice before one of his light laughs broke the silence.

"What for? You're not the one who shot me.", the informant laughed, tears slightly forming in his eyes because of how hard he was laughing.

Green eyes looked back up to find a sight that made the brunette's heart stop. Izaya's eyes were now glimmering like rubies as his face flushed a perfect shade of pink; his expression carefree even in the mists of what surely must be the end of the world as they knew it. The man shook his head clear.

"Kiyoshi Kazuki.", the brunette said suddenly holding out a hand for a firm handshake.

Izaya stopped laughing as he stared at the man's hand curiously for a moment.

"Kazuki, huh? Orihara Izaya.", the raven replied taking his hand, "Nice to meet you, I suppose."

A blush creeped up Kazuki's face at being addressed by his first name so suddenly and was forced to glue his eyes to the ground again.

"So why are you working with the Defense? You seem too kindhearted for this sort of job.", the raven asked suddenly, catching Kiyoshi off guard.

The brunette's blush disappeared completely as the soldier's eyes became distant.

"And you would be right in that assumption. I signed up at eighteen to protect my country and my older brother since he was so set on doing this. We were never thrown into action until now.", Kazuki began as Izaya watched him carefully, "I hate it."

"I didn't sign up to terrorize the people I'm supposed to be protecting. You should see what they've been doing to them…", the brunette sighed.

"Trust me, I know. I've lived two weeks in it.", Orihara scoffed as he ran a hand down Sukeban's neck.

"Are you staying here?"

"In the middle of a game trail? Of course.", Izaya said sarcastically.

"No, I mean in this town."

"I was planning on it, why?"

The brunette's eyes suddenly became deadly serious as his piercing green eyes bore into izaya's burgundy ones.

"Listen to me. You have to leave. By tomorrow."

Orihara was caught off guard by this and looked at the taller male in confusion.  
"Why would I do that? The cabin is hidden enough that it should be fine."

"Maybe, but not for long. The Defense is turning this whole town into another Training camp and more and more squads are pouring in to clear the area out and set up walls.", Kiyoshi explained.

"Dammit…", the smaller male murmured.

"Escape southwards and over the bridge, it's the safest way."  
Suddenly Orihara became cold as his eyes narrowed.

"And how do I know there isn't a trap laying for me there?"

"You don't."

"And you expect me to just take your word for it?"

Those green eyes didn't waver for a second as Izaya sighed.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Hmmm, who knows? You just seem like the kind of person I'd enjoy being around for however long that'll be from now.", the brunette laughed.

"Wait... Are you-?"

"Planning on running away with you? Yeah."

"You hardly even know me.", Orihara stated coolly, "You shouldn't trust me, you know."

"Is it weird that I do? If I'm going to make it out there, I'm betting my best chance at surviving is sticking with you. I've been wanting to leave for weeks now."

The informant let out another sigh.

"Yes, but if that's really what you want to do then I really can't stop you."

Kazuki smiled as his green eyes lit up.

"Tomorrow at sunset travel towards the bridge, I'll be waiting on a bay horse."

"Is it possible for you to bring a second one?", Orihara asked, thinking about the blonde back at the cabin.

"Why? Do you really have that much stuff?", the brunette asked curiously.

"No, but I can't just leave Shizou here."

"Shi...zou?"

Of course someone as beautiful as Izaya would be taken. How could he have been so stupid?

"Mmmhmm, Shizou.", Orihara smiled, reading the male's thoughts right off his honest face.

It was hilarious to Izaya just how let down the brunette was. Kazuki honestly had no clue how much they despised each other.

"Y-Yeah, I can bring another one."

"Tomorrow then.", the informant smirked as he began walking towards the cabin.

"Tomorrow." , Kiyoshi replied as Sukeban's ears flicked backwards to hear her raven's footsteps going away from her.

Kazuki watched silently as the palomino whinnied after the petite man and happily trotted to catch up with him. Tomorrow was it. The day he finally worked up enough nerve to abandon his line of duty.

-Prologue For Next Chapter-

Kida shifted a little bit as his rear began to hurt from sitting in one spot for so long. Aoba had his head resting on his shoulder again, but the blonde was unaware of the fact that the teen was wide awake and glaring daggers at Egor who stared calmly back. Kuronuma promised hell in his gaze, promised revenge for what was coming to him. The Russian man made a mental note to watch this one very closely, closer than he'd thought he'd had to before.

"Tomorrow at sunset, we'll be sailing towards Russia.", the bandaged man said turning his gaze away from the shorter teen and to Masaomi instead.

Kida's eyes flickered up to look the man in the eyes before he looked away again.

"Tomorrow, huh?"

"It's best to forget anyone you're thinking about right now, Kida, because you'll never see them again.", Aoba finally spoke up, "We can't spend time lingering in the past now. You need to focus on the present or you'll just drag us down again."

Masaomi glared at the male beside him, his brown eyes lacking murderous intent though, Egor noticed.

"As soon as we get there, we're going to be subjected to the one thing everyone's trying to avoid, thrown into military training, and then after that placed on the battlefield to fight to the death.", Aboa began heatedly, " Right now, I need you to be on the same page as me because I need to be able to trust that you have my back. Even though I hate you more than anything, we need to stick together and we both need to be mentally present."

Kida stared at Kuronuma in silent shock as a silence settled over the room. Burning brown eyes met wavering brown eyes until the carriage stopped along a river.

"Best listen to your boyfriend, kid. Anything from before isn't important, not anymore.", the Russian said as he jumped out to help relieve the horses of their trails so they could drink. 


	4. Promise Me

It was around noon by the time Izaya got back and immediately gravitated to his backpack by the couch when he walked in. He was desperately in need of a shirt now that an autumn chill had swept in from the west. Orihara resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he noticed from the corner of his vision that Shizou was sitting on said couch with his usual scowl. The raven didn't bother to even look at him fully; he knew the blonde was glaring at him.

"You still haven't eaten, Shizu-chan?", the informant commented more than asked as he realized that he couldn't smell or see any evidence of food having been cooked.

The raven got no response, as he expected, and walked to the pantry with a sigh. Orihara absolutely did not want to cook anything for Shizou. He was a grown man and should be able to take care of himself after all, but talking about what had happened and the new plan over breakfast would be the perfect opportunity. Getting on his good side was very crucial if he wanted the blonde to even listen to him. Even though he hated him, the bartender was extremely useful to Izaya at the moment.

Shizou was essential protection. He was able to ward off squads easily if it came to it. SS class squads were a different story, but those squads were only deployed to recapture sliced hybrids if escaped. They knew how to deal with super-strength since many hybrids were built with that ability. It would be an easy job for an SS squad to take down Shizou. Child's play really. It would be highly unlikely that they'd run into them though since Heiwajima wasn't in their system as an escaped, so that was the least of Izaya's worries.

Once he'd opened said pantry, the informant's eye was immediately caught by two cans of tuna. Excitedly, Orihara pulled the cans out and set them on the counter. He could hardly contain his excitement at the great find. It wasn't fatty tuna, but it was still tuna and that was good enough for him. Looking around for a can opener, the raven opened drawers and threw open cabinets. He searched and searched, but didn't find what he was looking for. With a frown, he turned his head to the bartender watching silently from the couch.

"I found some tuna, Shizu-chan. I need you to come open the cans.", the informant stated as he turned fully to the blonde with a can in hand.

"I can't open them. I tried a few days back.", the bartender explained honestly as he looked the raven straight in the eye.

"What do you mean you can't open them?", Orihara scoffed as he glared at the blonde while he placed a hand on his hip.

"I mean I can't open them."

"How are you going to sit here and tell me a brute like you, who rips street signs out of the ground and hurls vending machines, can't open two tin cans of tuna?", the informant asked with a quirked brow.

"Yes."

Izaya sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why is that so?"

"I'm not angry.", Shizou shrugged as he turned back to the raven.

A look of despair crossed Izaya's beautiful features before he realized that getting Heiwajima angry was his specialty. Orihara just had to make the blonde mad enough to open the cans, but not so mad that he decides to bring the whole cabin down. Looking up, the informant noticed that the blonde was turned to the window, completely disregarding Izaya. The raven scowled in irritation before an idea presented itself. The weight of his pocket knife, that he'd picked up from his backpack after being put in a situation earlier that could have ended badly without it, had given him the scheme. A sure way to piss the blonde off.

Sinking to the ground, the informant crawled slowly and silently to the bartender; careful to put hardly any weight on his right shoulder. Izaya hated himself for what he was about to do. Putting himself in such a vulnerable position and getting so close to the monster was never a good idea. Shizou had gone at him seriously every time he managed to tick him off, so he felt as though he should expect to get killed. Still, he went on with the plan anyway, completely against his better judgement. Man, he was becoming suicidal… Once he was close enough to the blonde that he could touch him, Orihara spoke to the taller man.

"Can you at least try to open the cans, Shizu-chan?", the raven cooed as he pushed up onto his knees in between Shizou's legs, the length of his body running against the bartender's most sensitive area, "I'm starving and I need you to feed me."

Shocked brown eyes stared down at Izaya as if he'd grown a second head. There was an awkward pause as the protozoan tried his absolute best to get his brain to reboot. Never had the raven came at him in such a sexual way. It was unnerving and frankly it was terrifying. There had to be a catch here. There had to be a catch. There's no way Izaya would-

"If you don't... then...", Orihara began as a knife materialized in his left hand, "I'll have to resort to extreme measures."

There it was. That catch. The raven solidified what he said by taking the tip of the blade and lightly pressing it to the crotch of the bartender's pants. It wasn't touching his length, but it was still horrifying. Izaya was suddenly pushed onto his back and abandoned as the blonde practically ran away from him; a peeved out look on his face.

"What the fuck are you doing!? Are you insane?!", Heiwajima roared from the corner he'd pushed himself into, "I'll seriously kill you if you ever do anything like that again!"

"But Shizu-chan, I'm hungry.", Izaya pouted in the cutest way he could possibly muster while holding his pocket knife threateningly in his hand.  
"I'll open the damn cans so drop the act, Flea!"

Keeping a watchful eye on the informant, the blonde slowly crept along the wall. Once past Orihara and in the kitchen the bartender grabbed two bowls out of a cabinet irritatedly and squeezed each can's sides until the top popped off. He then emptied a can into each bowl, snatching his own up angrily as he went to go sit in the living room again. So badly, oh so badly did Heiwajima want to just punch Orihara's lights out, but Shizou didn't want to touch him even if it was in a spout of violence. How could he have been so stupid to think that such a dangerous little parasite was suddenly tamed by tragedy?

Izaya frowned at the now visibly ticked off bartender. Maybe getting him mad that way was a bad move. It was fun, but still it was the wrong move. How would he be able to talk to him like this? Grabbing his own bowl, the raven walked to the loveseat across the way from the couch the blonde was seated on. The informant was quiet as he began eating, allowing time for the tension in the room to loosen. How should he proceed? How did he even open the conversation? If he screwed this up, then Heiwajima wouldn't even think of coming. Something told him that he'd already messed up all his chances with that last act, but he knew he had to at least try. Kida was right in saying that pairing up with Shizou was the difference between life and death.

"I'm leaving.", the raven said suddenly, making the blonde in front of him look up.

There was a short silence as the bartender looked at the informant steadily, his anger suddenly seeping out of him.

"Where will you go?"

"South. They're making another camp out of this city and more and more squads are pouring in. I'm going with an ex-soldier named Kiyoshi Kazuki that I met at the stream. He's meeting me at the bridge with two horses tomorrow at sundown.", Orihara explained as the blonde raised a brow, "One for himself and one for you."

Heiwajima looked at Orihara blankly as he paused his eating.

"Are you stupid, Flea? An ex-soldier? He's probably trying to lead us into a trap."

"He's not trying to lead us into a trap.", Izaya said with so much conviction that it scared him a little bit.

"And how do you know?"

"I just know. I can read humans as you would a book, if a protozoan like you is even capable of such a feat."

A vein popped up on Heiwajima's forehead as anger surged through him again.

"You're going to just get us both captured! You can't just blindly trust someone you met not even a few hours ago!"

Suddenly the air around Orihara became serious as he stared straight into Shizou's eyes; his ruby orbs like red fire.

"Shizou.", the raven began, making the blonde start at being addressed by his first name, " I have a history of manipulating the playing field so everything works in my favor. You know that first hand, don't you? When has it ever ended badly for me? I admit that I probably need more time to figure Kazuki out, but there are, in fact, squads milling around. He could be telling the truth and if he is then we'd be captured and soon."

"But, like I said, we can't just run out to the bridge only to get captured or killed.", the blonde stated.

"I know. I have a plan. Are you willing to listen before you make any rash decisions?"

The silence from the blonde was enough to tell the raven that he could proceed. He had one shot, so he better make this plan seem practically fool-proof.

Aoba gasped for air as he felt a hand wrap around his neck and hold him up off the floor of the carriage. He glared at the blonde woman in front of him as he refused to let his grip on his pocketknife loosen. To the left of him, Kuronuma could hear Kida yelling obscenities and trying desperately to break free of Simon's grasp; trying desperately to get to him.

"Drop the knife.", Varona demanded coldly as Egor watched silently in the background.

The small teen had tried to slit the man's throat not even a few seconds before. Seeing that Simon and Dennis would rather let them go and the tall blonde was the only one who was set on taking them to their impending doom, he decided to get rid of the assassin and earn their freedom. Obviously the plan failed and now the edges of his vision were going black. In a last attempt at rebelling, Aoba grit his teeth against his need for air and the pain around his neck as he lifted his arm with the blade in it to bring it down on the side of that long, slender neck.

Just in the nick of time, a firm hand grasped his own as Varona let go of him as if she'd touched boiling water. A sickening crack was heard as Egor pushed the teen's hand back at an awkward angle. Kuronuma let out a throaty cry as Masaomi quickly became a little more than livid.

"Let him go!", the blonde yelled at the assassin as the man gripped the smaller teen's hair and slammed his head into the wall with so much force it made Aoba's vision go completely out for a moment.

Without letting his grip loosen, the tall male pulled the teen up to his eye level by his hair. Brown eyes still blazed with anger and resentment even when squinting in pain while cold, calm blue eyes looked at him as if he were absolute dirt.

"That was out of line.", the Russian man stated as he reached in his pocket for his own knife and brought it up to the teen's face, "I'm guessing you already know that I can't let you live after that. We have no room for rebels."

"Do it and I'll fucking kill you!", Kida nearly screamed as he managed to fight his way to his feet and catch the older man's attention, "Maybe I won't be able to do it now and maybe not for years, but I will fucking kill you! No matter where you run or what I have to do, I will make sure I find you and when I do, you'll wish you would have killed yourself when you had the chance!"

Masaomi was shaking with absolute rage as the man regarded him with little emotion.

"Let. Him. Go.", Kida demanded as his gaze burned into blue eyes, trying to force him to listen with only the power of his eyes alone.  
Egor let the arm holding Kuronuma up drop as he turned fully to Masaomi and walked towards him, dragging Aoba along with him. Masaomi stood his ground as he lifted his chin up high in challenge, daring the man to do anything.

"I don't take orders from anyone but my superior. I only need to come back without being empty handed.", the man stated as he looked down at the blonde.  
"I'll bite my tongue and then you will come back empty handed."

"What happened to you wanting to hunt me down and torture me?"

"Something tells me that someone will do that job for me if I go through with this instead.", Masaomi said dangerously.  
Egor's eyes softened a bit. Something about Kida reminded him of himself when he was a teenager himself. Blindly devoted and passionate and often putting his own life on the line for the one he'd sold himself to.

"You are loyal, Volk, and too reckless. One day you'll pay the price for it and many times over.

Kida let his anger drop to a silent burn as his eyes held a blank and simmering look.

"But today isn't that day, is it?"

"No.", the Russian laughed," It is not."

Egor then, with all the grace of his long and strong limbs, lifted Kuronuma and dropped him at Masaomi's feet. Simon immediately let the older teen go as Kida dropped to his knees and looked the smaller teen over. The blonde hardly paid attention as Varona and the dark skinned man left, his focus set on flipping Aoba onto his back. Kuronuma's eyes were tearing up from the pain radiating up his arm and his head was swimming.

"Shit", Kida cursed, "I think it's broken."

Kuronuma simply let out a groan in response as Masaomi gently placed the smaller teen's injured arm over his stomach. A dark bruise was beginning to form around the shorter male's neck and the blonde found himself getting mad at the fact that the teen's skin was marked in such a way. It looked like there had been a noose around his neck and that didn't sit well with Masaomi. Sitting down against the wall, the blonde held Aoba up by his armpits and pulled him into his chest. Kida wanted to make sure that the underclassmen didn't try to pull another surprise attack or get murdered while they slept, so keeping him close was mandatory now.  
Looking up, the second-year saw that Egor was watching him curiously. His knife was in his hands again as he twirled it around absentmindedly, reminding Masaomi of what almost happened. His anger was fully reignited when he felt the teen against his chest squirm uncomfortably, his wrist twisted in an awkward way and causing him extreme pain.

"You couldn't disarm him any other way?", Kida spat more than asked.

"I was going to kill him anyway, so it didn't matter which way I disarmed him.", the tall Russian responded, his demeanor nonchalant.

Suddenly the blonde remembered something about the camp, that unhealthy subjects were shot through the head. What counted as unhealthy to them?

"Wait… does his broken wrist mean he's considered 'unhealthy' now?", Kida asked with fear showing in his orbs.

"Don't worry little Volk, they will overlook it.", Egor answered as his blue eyes danced with amusement.

Masaomi scoffed at the pet name he'd been given, but didn't question it as he shifted in an attempt to make things easier for Aoba.

"Will they put a cast on it?"

"As soon as we get to camp."

"Which is how long from now?"

"The ship will take eight hours to pull into the port near Vanino and then a day from there to Yakutsk and after that another day and a half to the camp.", the Russian replied simply.

"That's too long to wait! They'd have to reset it by the time we got there!", Kida complained as a look of despair crossed Kuronuma's features.

Egor laughed at the pair's antics as he moved over to a bag and began to dig around.

"For now, we have a removable cast. Varona fractured her wrist in a fight awhile back, so that is why we have one. You are very lucky that I didn't break his whole arm."

Masaomi blinked and then pulled his lips into a frown, something was off here.

"You broke his wrist knowing that you had that, didn't you?", Kida said suspiciously. "You weren't going to kill him even if I'd hadn't have said anything...You were just going to scare him straight!"

"I'm beginning to think that you're nearly as smart as your little boyfriend." , Egor laughed again.

"Do you just enjoy messing with us, you asshole?", Aoba said through grit teeth, his head lifting up with great effort.

"Yes, but mostly the volk. He has strong reactions", the Russian said as he threw Kida the removable cast.

Masaomi caught the black object and looked it over a moment before looking down at the first-year's wrist with reluctance.  
"I don't know how to set it…", Kida said waveringly.

There was a short silence as the blonde pondered over what to do.

"I can do it, but do you trust me?", Egor asked.

"No.", the upperclassmen replied immediately, "Can you get Simon back here to help?"

Standing up, the assassin walked over to the closed end of the carriage and opened a small window to where the other three were sitting. Denis was steering the team of four horses while Varona and Simon watched for any sweepers. The tall man said something in Russian to Simon and then Dennis before the carriage stopped and Simon walked around back to help. Aoba didn't want to let the dark skinned man close and tried to squirm away, but Kida held him tightly; bear hugging him.

"I trust him, so let him help Aoba.", Masaomi said sternly as Kuronuma let out a gasp when a hand suddenly grasped his arm.  
The first-year let out a little cry as Simon diligently set his wrist. Kida hated the sound and kept shifting every time the smaller teen made a pained noise. He didn't like that the smaller was hurting and he could do nothing to ease the pain. It made him feel useless and defective, like he did when he was unable to protect Saki not once, but twice.

"Done. It is all better now!", Simon exclaimed as he finished putting on the cast.

"Thanks.", the blonde said graciously as the man left to return back to his post.

Aoba relaxed against the older teen as the pain in his wrist dulled to a painful throb. He was immediately grateful that Masaomi had pulled him into his warmth because now he drew comfort from it. The cold air rushing in the open end of the carriage was making him shiver slightly. "Kida…"

"Hmmm?", the blonde responded as he looked over at the shorter teen.

"Promise me.", Aoba swallowed, "Promise me that you'll stay by me. It's important now than ever that we stick together."

Kuronuma had no idea where his sudden unease came from. Suddenly the thought of Masaomi leaving his side was terrifying. Having to face all this alone would be hell and Aoba felt for all the people that DID go through this all alone. Don't get him wrong, the first-year was a fiercely independent individual, but Kida had proved that without his intervention things would have been worse off. Maybe he wouldn't have been killed, but his punishment wouldn't have been light.  
Kida hesitated for only a moment and only because Aoba was acting so strangely; pushing his body closer and tightening his good hand into the fabric of Masaomi's jeans in a silent plead. At the end of the day, Kida supposed, Kuronuma was a kid. Maybe not so much a kid, but fifteen. His element was the streets of Ikebukuro and anywhere else he was a fish out of water. New was a foreign and scary concept to him. Aoba didn't operate as well when he was stressed out over his ever changing surroundings. Of course, he'd never show it though.

Masaomi was more at ease. Having spent a lot of time outside of the city, he was used to not being well within the city-limits of the place he grew up in. Though he wasn't as smart or scheming, Kida knew how to live a fleeting and fast paced existence. He could adjust his way of life on a dime and just keep moving forward, while Aoba lingered further behind in adjusting.

Together, the first year had found, he was able to transition more easily. When Kida was calm, it transferred to him and kept him from panicking like he did when Aoba had willingly walked away from the blonde a week back. Pride kept him from looking for Masaomi, even though he'd never been so lost. Kida's presence was necessary for him to operate correctly. Just him being around made Aoba feel more at ease. Kuronuma guessed it was probably just the familiarity of Masaomi. The blonde, in a way, was home. The last part of Ikebukuro that hadn't changed or collapsed in on itself, the last living memory Aoba would ever have, was Kida.  
"I promise.", Masaomi said firmly, looking into the first-year's uncertain eyes as he felt Kuronuma's grip on his jeans loosen and his body relax.  
And with two simple words, Kida's fate was intertwined with Aoba's until the end. The promise seemed simple enough, but Egor knew better. Masaomi had unknowingly sold his soul to the first-year. Now he was completely bound to the smaller. Wherever he went, Kida would follow. Every want and desire Kuronuma had would be carried out indefinitely, all riding on one simple promise. All on the sense of loyalty Masomi carried for the first-year. Or maybe it went deeper than that. Maybe Kida was like many he'd seen before. Maybe the blonde had lost someone important and felt as though he had to fiercely protect the last thing he had left. Emotionally bound as well as bound by his word.

This blind loyalty was deadly and coupled with that recklessness was just asking for trouble that was fast-approaching. That devotion would be put to the test as soon as they walked through the gates of the camp. Life there was definitely no walk in the park and brutality lay everywhere. The stronger you proved yourself to be, the better. The first few days were always the worst. Your position was the lowest among all the hybrids until you proved yourself worthy of a high rank. Masaomi would have to fight for both himself and more than sometimes fight for Kuronuma.

"Brace yourself, little Volk…", the Russian man murmured as he turned his knife over in his hands and watched the pair carefully.

Kazuki sighed as he looked up at the evening sky and pondered over whether or not he should bring Raiju for Izaya's, hopefully not, boyfriend. It only made sense to take his now deceased father's horse, but the stallion was no easy ride. Much like his brother's horse, the coal black Anglo-Arab was picky about his riders. Sukeban, in particular, had been so difficult that Kazuki himself couldn't ride her so it surprised him when he found that Orihara had even been permitted to sit on her back for longer than three seconds.

Seeing that Anglo-Arabs in the defense had a bad streak of being hard-headed, no one dared to take Raiju up as a riding companion. No one wanted to deal with such a troublesome horse. Now Kiyoshi used him simply as a pack-mule, a job completely unfitting for him. Hopefully, he'd be promoted to his original one; that is if he even let Shizou near him.

A loud bray returned Kiyoshi from his thoughts as he looked behind him to see his dapple grey Holsteiner and his father's coal black Anglo bickering over an apple someone had tossed them.

"Hizoku, let him have it. You've had three today already!"

At the sound of his rider's voice the dapple grey horse lifted his head and let out an innocent whiny as if he hadn't just been viciously biting at the slightly shorter horse next to him over something so trivial. Raiju simply continued with what he was doing, disregarding Kazuki as walked over to greet them.

"You have to stop picking on him.", the brunette said to his bully of a horse as he pat him affectionately, "One day he'll decide he's had enough."

The coal black stallion snorted as if in agreement as he finally lifted his head and reached out for the soldier, wanting to be pet. Kiyoshi obliged him as his dapple grey stallion protested by turning up dirt with a hoof. When the taller stallion tried to push the shorter out of the way with his nose to absorb all the attention, the green eyed man pushed the Holsteiner away.

"Your little rebel is spoiled rotten.", a voice spoke up behind Kazuki making the man turn.

"Lieutenant.", the brunette said ducking his head in respect as he was so vigorously trained to do. If it weren't a habit so deeply ingrained in him, the soldier wouldn't even bother with the small little gesture. He didn't respect the shorter man in the least for the things he'd done.

"I see they've put you on stable duty again.", the man stated coolly, "Can you explain to me why you were assigned?"

The brunette knew lying was pointless and responded without any hesitation.

"I went against a direct order, Sir."

Lieutenant Momoru sighed as he ran a hand through his glossy black hair, slicking it back while his grey eyes looked at the soldier in front of him with irritation lighting in his eyes.

"That's the third time now, Private. What was the order this time?"

"To put down a crippled elder, Sir.", the brunette replied with a dark tone to it.

Even though Kazuki had refused to put a bullet in the elder's head, the job was done by another. All the while, Kiyoshi couldn't, wouldn't do anything. He felt like a coward. He was too scared to go completely against his superiors.

"You are too soft, Private.", the man said dangerously as his grey eyes grew even colder, "I expect you'll harden up soon or there will be repercussions."  
"Yes, Sir.", the brunette responded as he ducked his head again.

The shorter man looked at him for a few long moments, analyzing him with suspicious eyes before the Lieutenant decided he had better things to do than repeatedly get on a weak-willed Private's tail.

"Well, that will be all. Back to work.", the male said before he stalked off, Kiyoshi staring after him.

Suddenly tomorrow felt like a long time to wait. Kazuki almost convinced himself to leave several hours early, but if he was noticed missing then they'd come searching. He'd then be found and only god knows what would happen next. With anxiety making an appearance, Kiyoshi continued to walk down the line of tied horses. He checked them over for injury, brushed them clean of dirt and grime, and then fed them. It was an easy job and the brunette began to wonder why this was even a punishment. It was nice and calming around the big creatures, their soft snorts and other noises soothing when your nerves were grating. Having watered all the horses earlier, Kazuki found that he had nothing left to do. He hadn't been assigned another job so at this point, he was free to do as he liked. That must be because his squad leader was probably sick of taking him on runs only for him not to do his job.

Turning to the one in charge of looking over the temporary headquarters for the new camp, the soldier told him that he'd be going to find a house somewhere in town so he could sleep and that he was bringing his horses with him. This wasn't a suspicious thing since many of the men had staked out places of their own. Privacy wasn't always granted in this line of service so any chance to be alone and finally be able to jack off, was jumped at. Kiyoshi prayed that his superior thought he was doing just that and not preparing to leave. Quickly, the tall male grabbed both the horse's saddles and put a bridle on Hizoku. Kazuki put the second bridle in his saddlebag and instead left Raiju's halter and leadrope where it was.

Untying Hizoku and Raiju from the hitching rack, the brunette walked them out of the condensed area. Once he'd gotten into and open enough space, the man attached the end of the coal black stallion's leadrope to the horn of the dapple grey horse's saddle. Afterwards, Kiyoshi climbed up on the Holsteiner's back and urged him forward at an easy trot. The green-eyed man knew exactly where he was going, a house he'd staked out three days ago that was a stone's throw from the bridge and jam packed with everything the soldier needed as far as supplies went. Food and water had been graciously stocked up and sleeping bags and blankets had been scavenged, so all he needed to do now was wait.

He'd call in sick tomorrow morning, via his long-range walkie talkie, that each squad leader had given to their members so they could stay in touch even when far away, and stay home all day tomorrow. Kiyoshi would take this time to pack up his salvaged goods and check the horses and their gear before leaving. Out Of nowhere, the brunette's mind wandered to thoughts about Izaya. The man had been like a dream when he saw him walking beside his brother's beautiful palomino. The way the raven walked was surreal, his movements so smooth that he might as well had been floating above the ground. And that perfect skin, how beautifully it had glowed in the filtering sun. His black hair had looked shiny and soft even from far away. Kazuki feared he was losing his mind or that this man wasn't human. A spirit? No. An angel? Possibly, but there was a sense of lurking mischief in the raven's ruby eyes that told him differently. Human, but just hardly so. Human, but slightly above.

Maybe it was his eyes that had reflected that answer. The wisdom hiding behind Orihara's flirtatious demeanor, like he was thousands of years old instead of around twenty. His eyes bright and clear, like the informant could see right through him and read his every thought. Maybe it was just how perfectly sculptured his body was. Every muscle creating contours in all the right places. Such perfection wasn't human. Was he a god? Hardly. But how could Kazuki know that Izaya had the characteristics of an Incubus? That Orihara was capable of draining the life out of him easily if he wanted to?

The man was so caught up in his Aphroditus-like looks that he couldn't see the informant for what he really was. Dangerous and always plotting. But maybe the way he came across to the brunette was another side of him. The raven felt no need to hide from the taller man, no need to lie to him. Maybe Kazuki didn't know about how he usually was because he'd only ever seen the good in Izaya. He had no reason to suspect any ill-will had ever omitted from Orihara in any stage of his life.  
The irritated snorts from both Hizoku and Raiju broke the man from his thoughts for the second time today. Kiyoshi sighed, knowing that his dapple grey stallion was up to no good again and bullying the smaller until a fight broke out. Kazuki wished he could just separate them, but strangely enough the pair hated being apart. They were practically attached by the hip even though their friendship was a little poisonous. The brunette watched from the window as the coal black Anglo Arab finally decided enough was enough and went at the taller horse seriously. His bite was entirely vicious and made the taller horse let out a weird noise as he jerked away completely, his ears swiveling back and forth nervously as Raiju's ears went flat against his head. The hierarchy had changed in just one moment. The black was the more dominant one now.

"See? What'd I tell you?", Kazuki chuckled as his horse began to try and turn away from the now terribly angry coal stallion.

Kida woke up the next morning stiff and forced to move, quite literally by Simon, as he and Kuronuma were finally permitted to leave the carriage and even given some food. There was a thick fog surrounding them, even thicker than the morning they'd been captured. The faint sound of seagulls shrieking from a little off and the smell of salt in the air was enough to tell them where they were.

"I thought we weren't supposed to be here until sundown…", Masaomi murmured as he took a bite out of the bread he had been given, staring out to where he guessed the water was, judging by the sound of waves crashing against rocks.  
"We got a message asking us to hurry, so we ran the horses all through the night without stopping. They want to try making a new hybrid that the Defense has already perfected.", Dennis explained.

"Wolf hybrids. Shifting wolf hybrids.", Simon added to the left of them.

"And they want to use you two as guinea pigs for the first attempt at recreating them." Egor piped up as he walked past them, towards the dock.

Masaomi felt Aoba bristle beside him, but thankfully he didn't try to strangle the tall man in his already weak state.

"You've got to be kidding me… That's impossible! Do you know how much genetic tweaking and splicing you'd have to do to pull that off? Plus, there's hardly any room for success. Our bodies most likely will reject the new Dna like people do a transplanted heart. We'd die!", Kuronuma hissed, his body shaking in slight fear though he hid his fear well behind his rage.

"And so the thousands upon thousands who have had similar things done to them are just special then? They have a fifty-fifty success rate and most lean towards a successful operation.", Varona said with a neutral tone though she was glaring at Aoba with her piercing blue eyes.

Kida, seeing the look from the usually neutral female, moved discreetly between them and sorta herded the smaller a little further away bit by bit. The last thing the blonde needed right now was Aoba getting beaten so badly that he'd be put down as soon as they got to camp. After moving the troublesome first-year, Masaomi looked out to the clearing coast. This was it. Once they left, they'd probably never come back. The blonde jumped when he felt the shorter lean into him, his lips just a mere millimeters from his ear.

"We should run for it.", Kuronuma whispered softly, his breath slightly tickling Kida's neck.

"They have horses and guns, Aoba, it's not a good idea. Plus your wrist is pretty messed up.", Masaomi whispered back, his eyes darting between all three of their captors.

"I don't need my wrist to run.", Kuronuma said as he rolled his eyes ,"Plus, look at the state of those horses."

Kida's eyes darted to the horse team. All of their heads were down and they were panting heavily in exhaustion. One pretty bay mare in particular was trying to lay down, but the tracks kept her from doing so as she stumbled to and fro. Another mare with a pure white coat's knees were buckling heavily while a bulky blue roan stallion had somehow managed to lay down though his tracks were still attached; his body in an awkward angle and his neck jerked up in a painful position. The last horse, a strawberry roan stallion was still standing but breathing so shallowly that there wasn't a doubt in their minds that he would soon die. They had all been run to the point of collapse and without treatment half if not the whole team will die.

"They won't be going anywhere anytime soon on horseback. They're finished.", Aoba sighed.

"We can't risk it! They haven't been giving us any water or hardly enough food, so chances are that we won't get far either. Not to mention that they are all armed and trained assassins. We have no supplies either, so if we do manage to get away we'll just die", the blonde hissed.

"Look. I want to leave just as badly as you do, but right now isn't a good time. Don't get yourself shot in the back because you were too hasty."

Kuronuma's glare made Kida flinch a bit and the first-year looked as if he were going to say something in retort when the sound of a gun being fired to their right made their heads jerk around. Varona had shot the white mare between the eyes and now the once graceful creature was lying in a heap; it's body limp and in an almost impossible angle. The rest of the team hardly even flinched as their positions remained the same. They accepted their fates without complaint. The blonde woman moved along to the next, the blue roan, and pressed the barrel of the gun to the stallion's neck. The horse paused its panting and gave a tired sigh before the assassin pulled the trigger again. This kill was messier since a major artery had been hit and blood splattered onto Varona's face, neck, and clothes. She studied the horse curiously as the animal gasped for air for a few torturous seconds before it died. The blonde Russian moved on.

She shot two more times; each time pausing for a few long moments when she pressed the gun to each of the weary animal's heads. The blonde woman was looking for a reaction, any show of fear. The assassin got no reaction each time and her lips pulled into a disappointed frown. After the deed was done, Varona stared at the corpses in morbid fascination; her head innocently cocked to the side as she watched thick, red liquid seep into the sand. Aoba and Kida watched in a mix of absolute horror, shock, and disgust. There was something very wrong with Varona and suddenly Kuronuma wished he'd hadn't been stopped when he'd tried to stab her through her neck.

With all thoughts of escaping erased, Aoba found himself walking towards the dock, towards their impending doom. The blonde followed a little behind him after a moment's pause, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he kept sending intimidating looks back at the Russian woman behind them who paid him no mind. The hostility the woman had exhibited towards the first-year earlier now deeply worried Masaomi. Obviously the Russian was a little less than mentally stable, so one wrong move could mark the end for either one or both of them.

"Good timing.", Egor said shortly as he saw them approaching, "Get on the boat. It is time to go."

Kida nodded shortly as he stepped on without hesitation while Aoba lingered behind. The shorter teen took one step forward and then turned around to look at the land he was born on. Kuronuma was smart enough not to believe he'd ever set eye on this country again and honestly it scared him. As soon as he climbed aboard, his fate would be sealed. He'd never live a normal life again. Never walk the streets of Ikebukuro again. Hell, he wouldn't ever be completely human again once he left here.

"Aoba", Masaomi said sternly behind him, making him jump, "It all doesn't matter anymore. It's the past. We need to focus on what's ahead of us and stay mentally present, as you put it."

Kuronuma stayed as he was, staring at his homeland longingly for a few long moments before he let a smirk etch his features. Turning around, he faced the taller blonde and the reality of their situation.

"I really hate when you're right.", he chuckled as he walked past Masaomi and onto the boat.

-Prologue For Next Chapter-

"You're stupid if you think this is anything other than a trap.", Shizou grumbled as he and Izaya looked down at the bridge from on top of a hill.

"You never know, Shizu-chan," Izaya smirked, "That's why we're checking things out early"

"If they were formulating an attack they'd have some things set up by now or at least be in the area…", Orihara said thoughtfully as he pulled his backpack strap so it would rest more comfortably on his shoulder.

"And if they are?", the blonde asked, arching his brow as Sukeban pushed her nose into Izaya's cheek.

The mare didn't enjoy being lead around by the bartender instead of the informant and was pestering the shorter man to retrieve her from the blonde.

"Then we'll sneak across the bridge while they aren't expecting us. I'll throw you on the back of the horse to absorb all the bullets, since they don't do much to you."

"Me? Taking bullets for you? You're funny , Flea.", the male responded as Izaya promptly ignored him.

Heiwajima sighed heavily in irritation as he watched Orihara look back and forth before jogging down the hill, his steps light and silent. The bartender had tried to tell the man time and time again that stealth wasn't his forte, but those inquires had fallen on deaf ears. Casually, the heavier-set man walked down the hill after the little flea, the palomino walking in an extended fashion beside him. When the taller man had caught up with the shorter, the raven glared at him.

"You could be a little more serious about this, you know. We could actually die if you so boldly walk through the town like you own the place, Protozoan."

Shizou's lips quickly pulled into a frown as his lips parted to retort. Before the man could speak, though, a loud whinny sounded from somewhere extremely close. Sukeban's ears swiveled forward at the sound and suddenly let out her own whinny in answer as she became anxious. The mare walked forward towards the call and became frustrated when she was stopped by the leadrope she was attached to. The blonde exchanged a look with Izaya and then let the Palomino's leadrope go. They hadn't been able to tell where exactly the noise had come from, but Sukeban sure had an idea. They watched as the horse turned a corner a little way's up the street and the pair promptly followed her. When they turned the corner, they were met by the sight of the bridge and a row of houses running down the street opposite of it.

"There's two of them…Is Kazuki here?", Orihara asked mostly himself as his gaze wandered to the mare who was busy socializing with two stallions.

A dapple grey and a coal black.

"Are we going to bust into the house or can we just leave now?", the blonde asked, fed up beside the shorter male.

"We're going to bust in of course! We didn't come here for no reason, now did we?~" Izaya said in a singsong voice as he made his way boldly to the front door.


	5. For They Were Tedious Things

"This is stupid, Izaya… What if it's a trap or something?", Shizou said as he glanced around nervously, Orihara busy trying to pick the lock to the front door.

"Since when is Shizu-chan this cautious?, the raven sighed irritatedly as his brows furrowed; his concentration being torn away from him by the brute's constant talking.

The blonde should know already that the informant knew what he was doing considering that he's survived this long. People had been pursuing the raven even before this all happened, so he definitely knew what signs to look for if there was any danger of an ambush. Looking around, Orihara saw nor heard any sign of a trap-in-waiting.

"Since when are YOU this reckless?" , Heiwajima hissed back just barely above a whisper as the informant managed to unlock the door with a light click.

"If Shizu-chan's so worried about it, stay out here and keep watch.", Orihara smirked as he stood from his crouching position and took a step inside.

Shizou glared at the back of the informant's head, but didn't budge from where he stood. Turning away from the inside of the house, the blonde raked his eyes over the horizon. He'd be damned if he let that parasite lead him to his doom. Meanwhile, Izaya walked past the living room with feather light steps; his hand wrapped tightly around his pocket knife. All the blinds in the house were drawn, making the light from the front door the only source of light; the doors to every room shut tight. This didn't draw any alarm from the informant, but the eerie quiet and lack of any presence certainly did. Silently, the raven slipped into the kitchen. The counters were bare and dust had collected heavily on the marble surfaces. The plant on the sill of a window overlooking the backyard was dried, brown; dead.

Curious but also guarded, burgundy eyes continued to investigate. Was there really no one here? Had they posted the horses at this house and actually resided in another? As different scenarios race through Orihara's mind, he opened up a cabinet; wanting to solidify his musings. His eyes widened when they rested on a large stash of food jammed into the small space. Turning to another cabinet, the informant opened that one too. Like the other cabinet, this one was jammed full of non-perishables as well. Now Izaya was a hundred percent positive that someone was here. No one would just leave this much food completely unattended.

As quietly as he slipped in, the raven slipped out. Taking a left, Orihara found himself faced with a hallway with four doors to check. The informant decided to save himself the trouble and just slink his way over to the master bedroom, the door directly at the end of the hall. This area was thankfully carpeted, so there was no concern for any creaks. Unfortunately, that meant that whoever was back here had the same advantage as he did; the advantage of an unknown presence.

Orihara let out a big silent breath to steady himself as he reached the door at the end of the hall. This room had the biggest chance of being the room that the person was staying in. With one hand in the pocket of his newly washed jacket, he wrapped his fingers over his knife; the man shakily reached out for the circular knob of the door. Gripping the knob tightly, Izaya silently counted up to three. One...Two… and before he could count to three, the door knob turned quickly and jerked open.

The informant jumped back in surprise, his knife ready. He almost fell on his ass, but quickly caught himself just in time to dodge a punch directed squarely at his face. Ducking out of the way of the unknown assailant's arm, the raven sidestepped so he could bring his blade to the man's unprotected throat, but fumbled as pain raced down his arm at the sudden action. Izaya gasped sharply and then cursed as he realized how stupid he was to think he was still any good with his blade in this state.

Before he had any longer to berate himself, the man found himself pushed roughly into the wall, his face pushed into the hard surface and his wounded shoulder held in a painful lock. The raven forced himself to hold back a cry of pain as he turned his head to look his attacker in the eye. Izaya and Kazuki recognized each other at the same time. Green eyes widened while burgundy eyes narrowed.

As if he'd been slapped, Kiyoshi let the man go quickly and took multiple steps back to give the raven some space. Orihara turned from his position against the wall immediately and cradled his injured shoulder as he regarded the soldier in front of him warily. Of course his unease didn't show through the masking smirk he always wore and to Kazuki the expression was like a silent promise. Even though it was the informant who seemed to be losing the battle, he looked as though he had the brunette right where he wanted him.

"Don't be so rough with me, Kazuki-kun~ You're making my wound bleed again.", the raven said in a singsong voice, his face twisting in agony only a moment later as his whole arm up to the shoulder throbbed.

This snapped the brunette out of his trance immediately as concern seemingly filled his every pore.

"Orihara! Shit, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was you until a little too late… Does it hurt badly?", Kiyoshi said as his hands hovered over Orihara's skin; wanting to help but not wanting to touch without permission.

Burgundy eyes looked up at the man with a surprised look. The brunette definitely hadn't turned on him.

"Why are you apologizing? You had no clue who it was that just walked right into your place like they owned it.", the raven said, defending the man from his own blame.

"What if I tore something? I'd feel horrible if you died from too much blood loss because I didn't look before I pounced.", the brunette said ignoring the question as he worried over the smaller male like a mother hen.

"I'm fine, Kazuki.", the raven said patiently though he rolled his eyes ," It hurts, but I won't die."

Kiyoshi visibly relaxed at that before his green eyes lit up.

"There's ibuprofen in the kitchen cabinet. It should help with the pain."

"Really? Some of that would be lovely.", Izaya replied, silently thanking whatever forces that had given him such a gift.

Kazuki looked at the smaller male with relief at the fact that he didn't refuse, before he turned to go to the kitchen. The atmosphere around them was so calm and familiar as the informant followed after the soldier. It was as if they'd known each other for years prior, like they've known each other all their lives. Kiyoshi found that his heart was thrumming against his chest almost painfully at this and silently scolded himself for thinking about such stupid things.

"Hey Flea! Are you still alive, or do I still have to finish you off?", a certain bartender so rudely interrupted Kazuki's thoughts from his post by the door.

The informant let a smirk fall into place on his face as he turned towards the door as Kiyoshi dug around for the Ibuprofen.

"Sadly I'm still alive, Shizu-chan. You can come in now.", Izaya answered with his burgundy eyes glinting with mischief.

Kiyoshi nearly choked on his own spit. He'd forgotten about Shizou. His heart ached a bit at the re-realization that Orihara was most likely spoken for. A flash of white turning the corner caught the tall man's attention as his breath caught in his throat. The man in front of him had messy blonde hair and golden brown eyes. His features were sharp in some places and soft in others, a perfect blend of the contrasts. The male was shorter than him, but his shoulders were broad and powerful. Kazuki could sense the man's strength in the air and wondered just how ripped the blonde was underneath his bartender uniform. Kazuki felt as though he were no match, hardly any competition for the bartender in front of him. A suspicious scowl was etched onto the blonde's face and Kiyoshi found himself suddenly feeling extremely intimidated.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Kiyoshi Kazuki.", the brunette said snapping out of his daze and holding out a hand to shake with the other, "And you are Izaya's boyfriend, I'm guessing?"

The raven in question sputtered while Shizou's head whipped around to look at the shorter man beside him.

"No, god, no!", Orihara exclaimed,"I hate Shizou more than anything else in the whole entire world."

"Same here. I'd rather commit suicide than date the flea for even half a night.", the blonde replied as if fighting off his gag reflex.

Kazuki blinked a few times and lowered his hand to his side. The man pondered over why the pair were traveling together even though they hated each other, but then thought back to the way Hizoku and Raiju interacted. They hated each other too, but didn't like to be apart. These two must have a pretty poisonous friendship then.

"My mistake…" , the brunette laughed light-heartedly, "Listen, I'm going to take a quick shower, but feel free to help yourself to anything you need."

"And Orihara."

Izaya caught the pill bottle being thrown to him with his left hand thankfully as he nodded his appreciation.

"Only two. I'm being serious.", Kiyoshi warned as he walked past the shorter male, towards the hall again.

"I don't have a death wish, Kazuki, so you don't have to worry about me overdosing.", Orihara smirked as he proceeded to open the bottle.

Heiwajima scoffed as he leaned against the kitchen wall.

"You say that, but you do lots of things that have people questioning your sanity.", Shizou chimed in as he watched the raven swallow down two pills without any water.

"It's called living on the edge, Shizu-chan. I can't afford to live on that thin line anymore now with what's happening, but what's the point of life if you don't live it to its fullest potential?", Orihara asked as he slipped the bottle into his jacket pocket for later use.

"So I guess trusting some guy you hardly know is part of that, then?"

The brunette flinched at that comment with his hand on the knob of the door to the bathroom. The words were spat with such hostility that it made his insides coil.

"I didn't trust him for no reason, my dear Shizu-chan. He's honest. You can read that on him so clearly that even you can see that.", Izaya replied as he leaned against the opposite wall of the kitchen, aware that Kiyoshi was listening intently to his words.

"What the fuck are you talking about, flea?", the blonde asked with furrowed brows.

"Alas, the protozoan proves to be as stupid as ever."

The informant twirled out of the reach of hands trying to grasp him, a smirk on his face as he chuckled at the miss. Kazuki, realizing that the conversation was over, promptly stepped into the bathroom. Shizou didn't pursue Orihara any further after the attempt to grab him as he simply watched the raven walk towards the front door.

"I'm going to look at the new horses, feel free to keep being suspicious.", Izaya said over his shoulder as he practically danced out the door.

The sun was finally making an appearance, having burned the clouds covering it away. It lit up the autumn trees making reds, yellows, and oranges look vibrant and beautiful. The morning dew on the ends of the leaves just added to the picture. And the main star, Sukeban, was shining like a beacon. Her golden coat was shimmering so much that Orihara actually had to squint his eyes. When the mare noticed that the informant had come out, she ran towards him from the river that ran under the bridge. The raven smiled softly as he outstretched a hand for her to press her nose into. As the palomino came trotting over, Izaya noticed another figure following after her. The dapple grey horse from before looked like a literal star had fallen to earth as his coat shimmered even harsher than Sukeban's. He was taller and gaited; his natural stride was smooth and beautiful. With no effort this stallion was a work of art. Behind them both was a darker and shorter stallion. His coat was as dark as an abyss, darker than coal. The horse looked as though he were the other's shadow. His mane and tail were long and flowing; his steps bouncy and full of energy just waiting to burst.

"Oh, looks like you made friends, Suke-chan.", Izaya commented when the mare finally reached him.

Sukeban snorted in response as Hizoku curiously sniffed at the informant. The stallion was extremely bold and less cautious than the mare. He confidently pressed his nose to the informant's face, warm breaths assaulting the shorter male. To deter the horse from doing this, he blew air at his nose, making the stallion let out an indignant huff. When the dapple grey finally moved his face away, he only did so to reach over the informant and grab hold of his hood; yanking it upwards so violently that it actually choked Izaya for a moment. Noticing the raven's distress, Sukeban nipped the big grey sharply, making the stallion back off. From a bit of a distance Raiju watched the trio silently as if analyzing the situation carefully. Even with his fiery attitude, he was still very smart. Orihara watched the stallion as they regarded each other. There was a long pause before the coal black breathed out a sigh and then promptly ignored them all, instead walking to the porch to get a look at another new face.

Shizou had come out and was leaning against the porch as he watched Orihara the horse whisperer interact with the horses. Two of them seemed to be falling for his charms while one, at least, decided he wanted nothing to do with him. The blonde guessed that this horse had the common sense the other two were lacking.

"Aren't you going to warn your friends?", Heiwajima asked the black as the stallion stopped to sniff at some leaves on the ground , "He's dangerous, you know. He'll make them his slaves."

The Anglo Arab lifted his head and stared at the bartender, Shizou looking back at him squarely. Finally, the stallion snorted and shook his mane of dirt with a toss of his head.

"Well I guess it's their own damn fault for being so stupid, after all.", the bartender said as he leaned his head back to look at the blue sky.

The horse let out a closed-mouth neigh in response, as if agreeing. Heiwajima sighed as he looked back out to Orihara who was now being bombarded with two equally curious horses. The pair were so completely entranced with the informant and seemed to absolutely love the sound of Izaya's airy, yet smooth velvet voice.

"Like a siren leading sailors into a shipwreck.", Shizou sighed as he shook his head at them.

Meanwhile, Raiju continued forward until he was about arm's reach from the blonde; his nostrils flaring as he pulled a look similar to Sukeban's. His neck was outstretched as far as possible, wanting to get close without actually coming any closer. The horse could sense the power emitting from the man, so he was right in his uncertainty. The bartender arched a brow.

"If you want to be pet, just ask.", the blonde sighed as he held out a hand for the stallion to push his nose into.

The Anglo Arabian's ears pricked forward even more so as he slowly closed the gap between them; his body ready to bolt if he needed to do so. Shizou was patient as the horse's soft nose pressed into his fingertips. When it happened, it was written in stone. The difficult horse finally had a rider.

"He likes you. I thought I'd never see the day he liked someone even a fraction as much as he liked my father.", Kazuki said from the porch, making the blonde look over.

The brunette's hair was still wet and the man was without a shirt. Even though the man wasn't even close to being as strong as Shizou, he was definitely buffer. His rippling muscles shifted with each breath the man took and for the first time, the blonde felt that he had to look away from a human of the same sex as him.

"I noticed that he's not really affectionate.", the bartender replied as his eyes found their way back to Izaya's form.

The informant was currently busying himself with French braiding Hizoku's mane while Sukeban started to act out a little bit for the raven's attention. Kiyoshi found Orihara's apparent love for braiding to be cute while Shizou found it a bit disturbing. He thought it was weird that he'd even know how to make a simple three-strand braid until the blonde remembered that the man had two twin sisters who were probably into that stuff.

"We should probably get inside just in case someone from the Defense comes by.", Kazuki said suddenly, breaking the silence, "Mind calling him in?"

Heiwajima let out a curt nod before he brought his fingers to his mouth to whistle for the trio. Three heads whipped around when the shrill sound filled the air. Shizou jerked his head in the direction of the house and Izaya immediately understood, beginning to walk back to the house. The two horses that were with him didn't follow, both bickering with one another over God knows what. The blonde was about to whistle again when Raiju let out a loud call that had them running back to the porch. The bartender muttered a word of thanks to the stallion, quiet enough not to be heard by a person but loud enough for the horse to pick it up clearly as he walked passed him into the house.

"Have you guys eaten yet? There's a gas-stove, so I can make some eggs and bacon.", Kazuki said from the kitchen as he opened the still-running fridge.

"That sounds heavenly! I haven't had a real meal in ages!", Izaya said excitedly at the thought of filling his stomach with a fulfilling meal.

"No, we haven't eaten yet.", Shizou answered for them both as he shut the door behind him.

"I'll get right on breakfast then. Do whatever you want, but don't go outside.", the brunette said as he pulled out the bacon and eggs from the fridge.

"Sure thing.", the raven said easily as he scooped up a magazine and plopped onto the couch.  
The blonde nodded as he sat down onto the couch opposite of the one Izaya was currently on.  
-

They were kept, tied up, in the cargo area of the ship. It was dark, damp, and incredibly quiet save for the constant little creaks and bumps they heard. Kida was irritated at the way they were tied; Back to back with their hands wound tightly behind their backs. Not only did that probably agitate Kuronuma's wrist, but it also meant that there was no way for them to get comfortable. Masaomi promised himself that when Egor came down to check on them, he'd give him an earful until he relented and untied them.

Aoba sighed as he leaned his head back so that it was nestled in Kida's shoulder. The insistent pain in his wrist had been driving him crazy before, but now it was numb due to his blood circulation being cut off by the tight ropes that bound them. The teen was currently pondering over how life would be if he was really given the ability to shift from human to a four-legged animal at will. It was insane to think that technology had come so far as to make monsters such as the ones they'd soon be turned into. The thought of not being human anymore terrified him just as much as the thought of dying due to the operation did. Aoba's thoughts were disrupted momentarily by the blonde's head falling into his right shoulder; the older's cheek against his own. Even though he hated to be pulled away from his thoughts, Kuronuma was glad that he at least wasn't alone.

"What are you thinking about?", Kida asked in a murmur as he stared into the darkness above him.

"Nothing of any significance.", the shorter teen sighed as he stared up into the dark as well.

Kuronuma felt the older nod against his shoulder as he went quiet again.

"What are you thinking about?", the raven asked as he shifted to get in a more comfortable position.

"Nothing of any significance.", The blonde parroted making Aoba huff.

"I know it's something, Masaomi. When you aren't thinking, you're insulting me. Since you haven't insulted me this whole time, you've been thinking deeply about something."

"I could say the same to you. You insult me when you're not thinking too."

There was a long silence and Kida was sure that the conversation was over, until the other's soothing voice spoke up again.

"I'll tell you if you tell me."

"I asked first."

Kuronuma sighed deeply.

"It's about Saki, isn't it?"

"I asked first, Aoba."

The shorter teen tsked. He wasn't going to just spill his secrets to him. He kept his weaknesses hidden so no one could use them against him.

"If we're going to have each other's back, then we have to be open to one another. You know that. I have nothing to gain and you have nothing to lose."

Aoba closed his eyes tightly. Kida was right. They needed to know each other, become closer. It was hard for the first-year though. He had always lived with his thoughts and feelings hidden; kept people at arm's length. He hated humans after all, for they were tedious things. Kuronuma found his dependence on another human sickening enough and now he had to completely expose himself to the same one. The teen planned to keep his mouth shut, but his fear of being alone kept him from holding back.

"I can't believe I'm actually telling you anything…", The shorter said as the blonde waited for his next words patiently.

"Well it's just… I can't believe this is happening to me, I'm usually so careful. How dumb was it for me to fall asleep in such an open area and get caught not once, but twice? And now we're facing being turned into monsters."

Masaomi patiently waited for the smaller to get all his thoughts out, listening to every word.

"I'm honestly terrified. Usually I'd never admit that, but seeing that I'll most likely die anyway-"

"Don't say that!", Kida suddenly growled, cutting the shorter off sharply "Don't ever fucking say that…"

"It's true. That operation is dangerous, Kida. There's no way we'll survive it."

"You don't know that."

"I do."

"The success rate must be pretty high considering how many hybrids there are, Kuronuma."

Aoba sighed again. Was Kida always so blind to reason?

"This operation is one they've never attempted before. In order for our bodies to be able to shift into a wolf they'd first have to add wolf Dna into our own. If our bodies don't immediately reject it, then the hard part comes into play. A shifter type hybrid must be extremely hard to pull off, considering that our bone structure will have to completely change. And to make it so that it happens in just split seconds is even more insane."

"They must have a certain mixed Dna sequence that allows for the shape shifting aspect. I may be entirely wrong though; it could be way more complicated. Anyways, If they mess up even slightly, which is highly probable, then we're going to die."

"We won't die.", the blonde said as he stared into the darkness hard.

"Do you really believe that?"

"Completely."

Kuronuma thought vaguely that ignorance must really be blissful. To believe they'd actually survive was foolish, but it at least kept your spirits up.

"...so you were thinking about Saki before?"

Masaomi was silent for a few long moments before he responded.

"Yeah, I was. Don't you dare chastise me for it."

"I wasn't going to.", Aoba responded soothingly without meaning to sound so, making the blonde's anger fall away from him.

"... Well It's just I hate myself for letting her be captured. She was the most important thing in my life and I allowed her to be taken away. She might be dead, she might be a monster and completely unrecognizable, she might be being abused or raped and anything bad that happens to her is completely my fault. If I hadn't have left her all alone while I checked that apartment, if I just would have let her come with me…"

The shorter teen could hear the pain in the older's voice. It must be entirely crippling and Aoba was silently glad that he never invested so much into one person. Letting yourself be vulnerable and too dependent on someone was dangerous. They become a part of you and when they're ripped away, they take that part of you with them.

"We can't turn back time, Masaomi.", the raven said, his voice calm and steady "Even if you were there, you wouldn't have been able to save her. You would have been taken along with Saki and then separated later on when they separated the girls from the boys. Whatever happened after that, you'd've been powerless to stop it."

"... But… I should've gone with her anyways."

"Now you're just being blind to reason.", Aoba huffed.

"I don't want to hear that from you. You have no clue how it feels to love someone. You may have thought you have loved someone before, but whatever that feeling was, it wasn't it."

"You're right. I've never loved anyone a day in my life and do you know why?", The shorter teen asked.

Masaomi was silent as he waited for the answer, his lips pulled into a frown.

"Because you become a slave to the feeling, a slave to the person you love. You put them before yourself and throw yourself into danger on their behalf. War has been waged on the feeling, suicide has been committed due to it, and depression has been caused because of it. I don't want any part in it. I mean just look at you, for instance. The way you're feeling is a major drawback and is keeping you tied to the past."

"There's no way you can't love anyone… That's just not human.", the blonde murmured beside him.

"I can assure you that I don't have room for that emotion."

"What about your mother? Do you love her?"

"Why would I? She abandoned me and my brother, just up and left without saying a word."

"Your father?"

"Abused me."

"What about your brother then?"

"Took after my father, but I didn't tolerate any shit from him for long.", Aoba hissed as if there was a sour taste in his mouth.

The cargo area went silent again as Kida felt a sadness creep up on him. Aoba didn't know what love was. He'd never felt it and never received it. All he'd gotten in life was shit thrown at him. No wonder the teen acted the way he did and seemed to have a personal vendetta against the world.

"Honestly, you're the closest I've ever allowed anyone to get to me."

"I hardly even know you.", Masaomi murmured, feeling sick to his stomach at the realization of just how bad this really was.

"And that's how I like to keep it.", Aoba finished.

"It's settled then.", the blonde said suddenly.

"What's settled?"

"I'll make sure to learn everything there is to know about you, at least become your friend if we're going to be together for a while."

"I don't need any friends."

"That's what you think.", Kida smirked, using playful banter to soften the mood.

Kuronuma knew it was useless trying to deter the older male, so he simply sighed and accepted his fate.

"Why are you so invested in me? Is it pity that moves you to do this? Or is it guilt?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you taking pity on me because I'm small and loveless or is it just that you're trying to make up for not being able to save Saki?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly.

"Both.", the teen answered honestly, surprising Aoba with his bluntness, "Like it or not, you're the only thing I have left. I can't fail you like I did Saki or else I'll be completely alone and I don't know if I can handle being alone with my own thoughts again."

"What would you do if I wound up dying?", Kuronuma asked out of curiosity more than anything else.

"I don't have a clue but if I had to guess, nothing good."

"You really need some therapy, you know that? There must be something psychologically wrong with you if your life depends solely on my survival.", the smaller teen said nonchalantly.

Kida shrugged and then there was silence. Kuronuma found the quiet less daunting than before and even found comfort in it. Six more hours to go and then they'd be lost to their homeland for the rest of their lives, only to return to it as enemies. Well, that is if they survived the operation. Whatever was in store for them, Aoba was now ready to face it all head on.

Izaya watched Kazuki clear the table, his eyes observing the man curiously.  
"You know that it doesn't matter whether we cleanup or not since we're leaving, right?", the informant asked as green eyes fluttered over to him.  
"Yeah I know. It just feels wrong to leave them laying out, ya know?"  
"Well if you feel like wasting your time, go right ahead.", the raven smirked as he rested his head in his left hand.  
There was no more talking as the sound of water and plates clinking filled the house. This slice of domestic life was refreshing in a way and for a moment they all could forget what was going on outside of the house. Orihara's eyes wandered over to the blonde, curious as to where he'd gone when he had gotten up a few minutes ago. The raven didn't have to look far for Shizou since he was laying on the couch behind him, half-dozing having had had a very fulfilling breakfast; courtesy of Kiyoshi. The informant almost laughed at the sight of Heiwajima's frown still deeply set on his face even though he was relaxing.  
He didn't linger on watching the brute for long as he got up and moved to go to the kitchen. The raven was sick and tired of the blonde even though he'd hardly spent just two days in his presence. When the shorter male entered the kitchen, He found the taller scrubbing away laboriously at the pan he'd used to cook the bacon. The brunette didn't realize that he was there at first, but after a minute or two, green eyes looked up from washing and then back down to shut off the water.  
"You need any help?", Orihara asked, breaking the ice as he walked completely into the kitchen.  
"No, I'm pretty much done. I have this pan and then one other one.", the soldier replied.  
"We still have a lot of time to kill, so I'm thinking I might even just go ahead and clean the whole kitchen. Hell, maybe even the whole house after I'm done getting everything packed."  
Izaya let out another one of his breathless, soft laughs as he sat on some papers that were littering the counters.  
"Anxious?"  
Kazuki paused his hand movements as he thought for a moment.  
"Not particularly. Well, maybe I'm worried about getting out okay, but other than that, I'm just looking for things to do really."  
Izaya looked at the shirtless man's back appreciatively for a brief moment as Kiyoshi continued scrubbing. The informant had never found his eyes so drawn to someone's back before, but he decided not to question it. The man was so perfectly ripped from front to back that Orihara wasn't sure whether to be amazed or jealous.  
"Why is it that you're so good at cooking, cleaning, and other wifely chores?", the raven asked as he watched the brunette put the bacon pan to the side and grab the last one.  
Kiyoshi actually laughed at that, his back still turned towards the shorter male.  
"I was my mother's child.", the man explained, "I loved spending my days around her and helping out where I could."  
"So you unknowingly let her condition you to be the perfect stay at home wife?", Izaya teased.  
"She had no daughters, so that may have actually been her goal.", Kazuki said back, a chuckle evident in his voice.  
"So what about you? Why is it that you seem to be a hairdresser?"  
Orihara sighed as his mind wandered to when he was younger. His sisters would always harass him until he agreed to cut, braid, or style their hair. He had even been forced to dye their hair the color of their choice once even though he knew his parents would chew him out later.  
"My sisters always wanted something new done to their hair.", the informant chuckled as he opened his eyes to find the brunette standing in front of him, both pans in hand to duck down and put them in their rightful place in the lower cabinet.  
"That makes a lot of since. Apparently you liked to do that though since you've been braiding Hizoku and Hinata's hair, or Sukeban now."  
Orihara lifted his legs up onto the counter, hugging them to his chest so the taller could put the pans away.  
"Well I like braiding their hair because they don't complain like my sisters do."  
"Oh right, I've been meaning to ask this for a while now.", Kiyoshi suddenly said as he reappeared from down below and turned to a cabinet containing blankets and a tent bag.  
Izaya arched a brow.  
"And what is that?"  
"What were you doing before you came here? Were you ever alone?"  
Orihara immediately thought of Kida and wondered again where the teen was. Was he still with Aoba? Was he still on his way here or had there been a change in plans? Where they even still alive? Had they even made it out of the city that night?  
"I was alone up until recently. I hid out in a bunker for two weeks in Ikebukuro after the terrorist attack. When the Defense hit hard and I was abandoning the city, I ran into an old employee of mine named Masaomi Kida."  
"Where is he now?", the brunette asked seriously as he wrapped three blankets around the tent bag and then secured it to it with a strong but small piece of rope.  
"Well, while on our way here to meet with Shizu-chan, we had to skim the outskirts of the city. We came across a cattle truck and saw that his friend was going to be thrown in.", Izaya explained, "Naturally, he jumped off the horse to go save him."  
"Don't worry", Orihara said as he saw horror pass through the male's features, "I think he was able to get away since the squad took more interest in the horse I was riding and chased me down. That's how I wound up with a bullet wound in my shoulder"  
Kiyoshi nodded as he grabbed a plastic bag and began loading it with food.  
"Any clue where he is now?"  
"Not one. He could be on his way here, could be dead, he could even be captured for all I know.", the raven sighed.  
"Do you want to wait a few days for him?"  
"We can't afford to. Besides, he's a big boy. He can take care of himself, even better if he has Aoba to watch over him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."  
Orihara could tell that that didn't sit very well with Kazuki, but the man didn't argue the topic any further.  
"What about Heiwajima? Where has he been this whole time?"  
"Who knows? Why don't you ask him yourself?", the raven said as he hopped down off of the counter.  
"Hmm, maybe I will when we all sit down to talk about where we'll be heading to first on our journey further south.", the brunette responded as he moved to another cabinet.  
"South? What's for us down there?", Izaya asked curiously.  
"A place where the Defense probably won't go. They are completely taking over the North half of Japan currently and might be leaving the South end alone since no plans have been made to invade. That could change later on, but we only have to be concerned about now.", the soldier said as he looked him in the eye seriously.  
"I see you've done your homework.", Orihara smirked coyly, making the older man swallow and avert his gaze back to what he was doing before.  
"Like I said, I've been planning this for awhile…", Kazuki said as he grabbed another bag and filled it without paying attention to what he was grabbing.  
Orihara held back his urge to burst out laughing as he saw just what the brunette was grabbing for.  
"...Say, Kazuki-kun? Do we really need sponges where we're going?", Izaya asked as he arched a brow.  
Kiyoshi paused and looked down at his left hand to find three packages of sponges gripped firmly in his fingers. With a heavy blush, the tall man quickly shoved the sponges where he'd found them and tried desperately not to look at the informant who was currently laughing at his misery.  
As Orihara came down from his bout of laughter, he looked out of the kitchen window and saw something move from the corner of his eye. His gaze flickered over to a relatively hidden corner and saw someone hiding not so entirely well in the shadows. It wasn't uncommon for regular citizens to act like this given the current world situation, but if the walkie-talkie in the man's hand and Defense uniform on the man's body was anything to go by, then this wasn't just some ordinary citizen. With narrowing eyes, the informant reached up and closed the blinds, making Kazuki look at him questioningly. When burgundy eyes met evergreen, a clear message was passed between them as the brunette quickly loaded what was most valuable into bags. Meanwhile from the living room, Shizou had a pillow smashed over his head. The constant back and forth flirting was driving him insane. He almost had the urge to walk back to the cabin seeing that if he went with them, this is what he'd have to endure. Would he just be the third wheel for the rest of whatever he had left of his life?  
"Shizu-chan~!", Orihara called to the blonde in a singsong voice.  
Of course! How stupid of him to think that the flea would ever ignore him for long? Heiwajima found that he was scoffing at himself for disliking being the third wheel for even a split second.  
"What do you want, Flea?", the bartender spat as he kept the pillow pressed firmly over his head.  
"What? Is Shizu-chan upset that I'm not giving him attention?", the informant said lowly as he took a step forward.  
The blonde shot up like an arrow, his eyes panicky as he put his hands out in front of him. He had not forgotten the last time the shorter had gotten close to him. Shizou was glad that his manhood wasn't taken that day and didn't want to take the chance of losing it again.  
"No!", the male yelled louder than he intended.  
Orihara smirked as he took a few steps back, not wanting to get injured any more than he already was.  
"My ears work just fine. No need to be so loud, Shizu-chan.", the raven sighed as another smirk took the place of the last one.  
"Now that you're up, I need you to get a saddle on Hizoku and Raiju. We're leaving early. Be prepared to fight if need be."  
The serious turn in the raven's voice shocked Shizou for a moment as he saw Kazuki, finally with a shirt on and his arms full of supplies, come from the kitchen.  
"Izaya what-"  
"Look, just do as I say or things could end badly for all of us.", the raven said as he walked back to the kitchen to grab a few more things as Kiyoshi saddled up his dapple grey holsteiner, placing everything he'd grabbed into the saddlebag.  
The blonde immediately got up and swiftly walked out to the porch. As if knowing that it was time to go, all the horses stood ready to take off at a moment's notice. Looking around, the bartender immediately found what he was looking for; Raiju's saddle. Picking it up easily, the man walked towards the black stallion and was able to put it on without any trouble. At that point, Kiyoshi was already on his horse and anxious to get a move on before a squad came. As if on cue, the informant finally emerged from the house. He quickly ran out to Sukeban and threw everything he was carrying into the horse's saddlebag and climbed on.  
"Quickly, Heiwajima.", the brunette warned as he took off at a trot, followed closely by Orihara.  
The blonde had never gotten onto a horse before, but he guessed that he should be fine seeing that he knew all the commands well enough. Shizou climbed on with a bit of difficulty as the black stallion grunted in protest to the man getting on his back in such an awkward fashion, but nonetheless he was able to ride after the soldier and informant at a gallop he didn't mean to go at. Luckily it worked out alright, since both Kiyoshi and Izaya were breaking out into a gallop too; wanting to get away as soon as possible. At the front of the pack was the dapple grey as the black and the palomino flanked him on either side, moving in a V-formation. Shizou surprisingly learned to ride smoothly quickly and found that travelling by horse was somewhat enjoyable. The coal black stallion under him was strong and capable and the bartender could feel the raw power emitting from the horse. Looking over at Orihara, the blonde observed that Izaya had a pained look on his face. The informant's shoulder was extremely stiff and would take a while to loosen up.  
The raven felt eyes on him and looked over to see Heiwajima staring at him intensely. The raven gave a curt nod as if saying he'd be fine and then urged Sukeban to pick up speed to keep up with Hizoku. Orihara wondered vaguely what would have happened had he not decided to go into the kitchen. Would Shizou have been able to fight a way through for them or would they have been caught? Orihara shook his head to dissipate the many questions he seemed to be having at the most inappropriate times. He supposed he was always like this though, always lost in thought. Always thinking about would could've been and what could be. For now though, he had to focus solely on what could be. There was no reason look back.  
-Prologue For Next Chapter-  
Not once had Egor come down to check on them. No food or water was given and their position had remained the same as time droned on. They were now a total of six hours into their eight hour ship ride and dehydration didn't feel too far off at this point. Kuronuma was insistently working at the ropes around his wrists as Kida, who had given up hours ago, looked blankly up at the deck above him and let the shorter's rocking movements lull him to sleep. Aoba was slowly making progress, using his nails to pull and tear away the tough rope strand by strand. He was going to get at least his injured wrist free even if it was the last thing he did. The pain in had come back with an urgent insistence and Aoba couldn't have ignored it if he'd wanted to.  
Kuronuma hissed and growled in irritation every now and then, cursing whoever's idea it was to tie them up even though they were in a locked area with no weapons within reach as Masaomi kept his head in the shorter's shoulder. The blonde was exhausted and his throat felt like sandpaper. He began to wonder how the raven even had any energy left at all before the door separating them from the light of day creaked open, filling the cargo area with a sudden light that had both teen's eyes aching. The curvy outline of a woman was standing at the top of the stairs and after a quick assessment of the situation, walked down them.  
Blonde hair came into view along with two bottles of water. Kida tensed as Varona approached, worried about what would happen to them while Egor wasn't here to keep track of the mentally unhinged assassin. Aoba had no clue about their current predicament as he tried desperately to crane his neck towards the sound of approaching footsteps.  
"Trying to get free?", Varona asked in a monotone voice that sent chills up both teen's spines.  
The Russian woman didn't get a reply as she bent down and set both bottles of water on the floor, tantalizingly close but unable to be obtained. She then slowly stood up straight and circled around the pair slowly, looking them over eagerly like a child at a zoo would look at animals, until she stood in front of Masaomi again. The look in her icy-blue eyes set off warning bells in the teen's minds.  
"I wonder if they'll really be able to pull off such a complicated hybrid on such scrawny and weak subjects…", the woman said mostly to herself as she unpocketed a knife and walked towards Kida.  
The Russian woman noticed the look of panic on the teen's face immediately and tilted her head curiously at the reaction. The look was not unsimilar to the look she wore when she put down the horse team only hours before. There was a moment of baited breath as both teens wondered what she was going to do. Would she really kill them right here? Right now?  
"I was ordered to cut the ropes and give you some water." Varona finally said as she leaned over and began to saw away at their binds, "One of the scientists who will be conducting the operation is on-board and wants to have a look at you two."  
The high schoolers relaxed if only a little as the woman cut them loose. The second they were free, they dove for the water and quickly opened the bottles. They brought the lip of the plastic containers to their lips and drank greedily, sputtering and coughing when they drank a little too quickly. The blonde assassin was watching them with her head tilted curiously again, but the pair were so parched that they couldn't find it in themselves to care. When Aoba finished his water, he licked at the drops still up in the container desperately trying to suck up every last bit. It wasn't hardly enough. Kida was doing the same, but gently tapping the end of the bottle to get the droplets of water to fall on to his waiting tongue.  
"Come, he isn't a very patient man.", Varona insisted as she moved towards the stairs again, looking back to watch the teens stiffly get to their feet, "There will be food waiting for you where he is."  
At that, both Kida and Aoba began to move as if time were really of the essence. They followed the assassin up the stairs eagerly as their stomachs growled and their mouths filled with saliva just by thinking about all the things that could be waiting for them. Seagulls squawked and screeched as they flew alongside the ship, hoping for food to be thrown overboard. The sky was grey and moody and the promise of a storm was evident in the heavy air. Waves crashed into the sides of the great vessel, spraying the trio as they walked towards the captain's cabin.  
"Just so you know, Professor Demyan isn't familiar with the term 'personal space'", Varona warned as they reached their destination.  
Masaomi was about to ask what she meant by that before he and the little raven beside him were ushered inside. The smell of meat it the teen's noses like a brick wall as they stepped in. They held themselves back from attacking the plates set out for them with much difficulty as a man with greying dark brown hair, glasses, and a cheerful face looked up at them with a smile.

"Please, have a seat and dig right in!", the man said enthusiastically, "There's much to do and such little time! I had to beg to see you before we ported!"


	6. The Dream

Kida didn't have to be told twice as he immediately sat down and dug into the food provided while Aoba looked at the smiling man distrustfully. Kuronuma had met a man by the name of Shinra who acted similarly to the scientist and that man loved a corpse and was, not to mention, also borderline psychotic. The scientist noticed the shorter's reluctance and while giving his biggest smile said, "I had it made to give you some strength for the operation, please eat."

The younger was still hesitant and it took an insistent look from the blonde to finally get him to sit down. With a hateful look in his eyes, Aoba picked his meat up with his fingers and ate without even bothering to use any of the silverware that was set out for them. Kida nudged the shorter under the table for trying to cause unnecessary trouble, but apparently Dr. Demyan was more amused by this than disgusted.

"Nice to meet you two! I'm Dr. Demyan, or Professor Demyan if you so please. It's good to see that you guys are still so lively! I was wondering whether you two had collapsed of dehydration yet.", the doctor/scientist said as he folded his hands on the table excitedly while Masaomi paid only half attention and Kuronuma looked at him with disdain.

Evidently, the greying brunette wasn't expecting a reply to that as he continued on.  
"I am thrilled to have the chance to attempt to make shifter hybrids! You will be my very first ones, but don't worry. I have been studying the art of splicing since as soon as I could read!"

Aoba raised a brow at this as he nibbled on a piece of steak. They have known how to do things like this for that long? His brown eyes looked to his left to catch Kida's own brown orbs, but the blonde was now completely occupied with his food. With an irritated huff, the younger looked back towards the still babbling man.

"-and oh! I was wondering whether or not you two were a couple. We could set the foundation of the pack we're going to make early! Two alphas among a pack of betas and omegas! Imagine that! An effective and organized group of specialized killers all pulled together by the command of the alpha pair! It would be a-"

"There is no pack. Just me and Masaomi." , The shortest of the two said as he stabbed his fork into the salad in the bowl beside his plate. "I won't work with anyone else."

The man looked to Kida to see the older had a fixed look as if telling the scientist that that was final. There would be no one else, but him and Aoba.  
"But that's-"

"Let me put it this way. Kuronuma does not play well with others and hardly plays well with me. He's extremely infuriating and there's more than a one hundred percent chance someone would try to rip his head off. If that happened I wouldn't waste one second in killing that someone.", Masaomi said with a silent danger lingering behind his eyes.

Dr. Demyan felt himself wanting to look away from the hard glare and eventually gave in for a moment as he allowed the tension in the room to die down a little bit.

"Understood. A lot of the hybrids at the camp are like you. Groups that have survived together become very attached to one another and often don't want to work with anyone outside of it."

Aoba almost scoffed at the sympathy in the man's voice as if he understood what they were going through. He had no clue at all and it was angering that he thought he did. Noticing the teen's glares, the man let his smile fall until his face took a more serious look.

"The operation is going to be done in a facility in the outskirts of the city that we port in." Cutting to the chase "I need to look you guys over so I can be sure that you guys will survive it."

"I thought it was going to be done at the camp!", Kida suddenly yelled as he bristled, causing the bodies waiting outside the door to shift in preparation to rush in if things went bad."

"It was originally scheduled to be done in the camp, but there's no time. It would take too long and we have to have you two healed, tested, trained, and ready for the battlefield as soon as possible. Russia needs reinforcement on the Chinese border. Their forces are pushing through and they aim to conquer the Siberian wilderness for resources."

Kuronuma was silent as he felt himself begin to tremble slightly. Even if they survived the operation, they were just going to be thrown into battle to die there.

"Will we be going into the operation as soon as we get there or will we be given a little time to regain our strength?", the teen asked evenly, but with much effort.

"I fought extremely hard to give you at least the rest of today to do that. I tried to give you a full day, but they wouldn't allow it. They are pushing the other future hybrids this way too and trying to double the speed in which we can get them out into the playing field.", Dr. Demyan sighed as he folded his hands and brought them to his lips. "The good news is that you won't be moving from the base until you are completely recovered from the operation and we know that your shifting abilities aren't flawed."

Masaomi pushed away his empty plate as he felt his stomach flop. The teen prayed he could hold his meal in as he tried to keep his breath steady.

"What are our chances of making it through the procedure?"

"Well we can figure that out as soon as you let me have a look at you.", the man said simply as he stood up. "It should only take a second to tell."

The blonde immediately felt intimidated by the man standing so suddenly, so he stood too. Dr. Demyan was quick in his evaluation of him, lifting up his shirt to see how much meat he had on him, prodding at his stomach for abnormalities, and pulling at loose skin to see how dehydrated he was. Kuronuma was silent during this as he sat tense in his chair, watching and dreading his turn. When it was time for him to be looked over as well, Aoba stood slowly; not wanting to be touched in the least.  
Masaomi noticed the other's clear unease, but stayed where he was. This was entirely necessary no matter how much they both disliked it. The raven gasped when a hand found his stomach and began to press lightly. The man's hand was intensely cold and Aoba had to wrench his eyes away from the man in order to keep himself from slapping his hand away. Dr. Demyan spent a longer time looking him over than he did Kida. Making him open his mouth, looking at his very visibly bruised throat, and even checking his wrist.

"Your neck should heal in a week, but no doubt it's hard to swallow. Your wrist should heal in six and since you will be a four-legged animal when in combat, you can't fight until it has fully healed. You two will have more time to adjust to the change since he's hurt and you'll only work with one another.", the man said to the blonde as he took a step back.

"What about our chances?", Kida asked anxiously.

"Nearly a ninety three percent chance of survival for the small one and a ninety six percent chance for you."

"Why are his chances better?", Kuronuma asked as he felt his stomach convulse.

"He's older and his body isn't so small. I have no doubt that you'll survive though if you drink more fluids and eat more while you still have the chance. For the time being, you will be moved to a more suitable quarters after this so you can rest."

Before Aoba or Kida could bombard the man with any more questions, the door to the room burst open.

"Dr. Demyan, an order has come in. Everything is nearly prepared, but you have to tell the other scientists exactly how the equipment must be set up.", an unknown man said in English.

"Well, that is all I wanted to say to you. I have business elsewhere.", the scientist said to the teens as he walked towards the door before turning to the man who'd walked in. "Take them to my quarters, they can have it for the rest of the journey."

Aoba and Kida exchanged a look and followed the man that was to escort them back down the deck without having to be told to. Putting up any sort of a fight right now would land them back in the cargo area with no food or water. If they wanted to survive this, they needed to cooperate for the time being. Kuronuma was extremely troubled about the current turn of events. Originally they were going to have plenty of time to accept what was happening before they had to undergo the change, but now that time was cut down to hardly any time at all. On top of it all, the smaller had a lower chance at surviving than the blonde did.

"Hey.", Kida said as he bumped his side against the raven's own. "Don't shut down yet. There's still a chance."

The younger's eyebrows furrowed as he turned his head away. The blonde's optimism was starting to get on his nerves.

"Even if I don't wind up dying here, I'll just die on the battlefield. I'm starting to think that dying while down under would be better than dying with a bullet in my chest!"

"I told you not to talk like that!", Kida yelled in response, the smaller not even bothering to look at him.  
An irritated sigh came from the man escorting them.

"You guys couldn't wait until you got inside Dr. Demyan's room to quarrel?", the soldier said as he pulled out a key to unlock the door to the doctor's quarters.  
If looks could kill, then Masaomi would have brutally murdered the taller man in front of him. Usually Aoba would have helped glare at the escort, but he just wanted to get inside as quickly as possible.

"Well. Here you are. We'll be porting in two hours, so don't get too comfortable.", the man said coldly as he pushed the two teens in and quickly shut and locked the door.

Kida scowled hard at the door behind them once he regained his bearings as Kuronuma walked over to the bed to the left of them and fell onto it. The blonde heard the sound of the raven's body hitting the sheets and looked over with a softened look.

"Aoba… I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Masaomi.", The raven's muffled voice said weakly.

"I promised you, didn't I? Sticking by you means more than just hanging around, doesn't it? I won't let anything bad happen to the only person I have left."  
Kuronuma chuckled bitterly as he lifted his head a bit, finding a dry humor in the situation.

"You'll have no control over what's going to happen, stupid. You'll be under too."

The older was silent as he watched the the smaller's head fall back into the sheets. His black hair reminded him a little of Mikado sometimes and he found himself wondering where the other teen had wound up. Was he with Sonohara? Had he died in the initial terrorist attack? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't come across or heard about the pure-hearted boy even once during the time he'd spent in Ikebukuro. A guilt surged over the blonde at not having even thought to look for him before, but he pushed it away. It didn't matter anymore. He had to stay in the present; he'd promised.

"Masaomi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you not fear death at all?", the teen asked as Kida gravitated towards the bed.

"Of course I do. Every living thing fears death in one small part of their mind.", Masaomi said as he plopped onto the bed face up and hands behind his head beside the self-pitying raven.

The warmth and presence of the taller teen was instantly calming as Aoba felt exhaustion wash over him. It felt like it had been years since he'd last been able to lay down on something so comfortable. The bed was mediocre at best, but to Kuronuma it was the most luxurious bed he'd ever had the chance to lay upon. Folding his arms in front of him, the teen laid his head on them; his face facing towards Kida as he pressed his nose into the crook of his elbow. He was about to close his eyes when he noticed that Masaomi was looking down at him with a slight frown on his face.

"What?"

"I wish we had more time until we ported, you seriously look like shit."

Aoba glared at the older teen.

"Gee, thanks."

"You know what I mean, Idiot.", the blonde said as he focused his gaze up on the ceiling. "You look like you haven't slept well in a year."

"You don't look too good yourself.", Aoba stated with closed eyes.

"Only because making sure you don't get murdered by either Egor or Varona is exhausting work.", Kida retorted, only earning a scoff in response.

After that, there was an easy silence. The rocking of the ship was pulling the teens into a deep sleep, one that Kida tried desperately to fight. He couldn't afford to let his guard down when their operation was a few hours away from happening. The older teen sighed and moved his eyes towards the other again. He was already almost out judging by how his face was beginning to slowly relax. The blonde wondered for a moment whether or not he should stay up and keep watch, but decided against it. God knew he needed the rest just as much as Aoba did. With his mind made up, Masaomi let his eyes slowly fall closed.

"Wake up! It's time to get off now!", the gruff voice of the captain yelled as he burst inside the room.

Kuronuma let out a long whine as Kida hissed at his muscle's screaming protest at any sort of movement. Aoba rose slowly and stretched his aching muscles as he looked at the blonde to see that he was getting up as well.

"Masaomi, it's time to go.", The raven said tiredly as he lightly shook the taller.

The blonde groaned and turned his head over to the other side. With an irritated sigh, Aoba took hold of one of Kida's sleeves and tugged him forward with all the effort of a demanding dog. The taller was heavy and the smaller wasn't able to pull him completely into a sitting position, but the rough jostling of the action was enough to get his point across.

"Mmkay, Aoba! I'm getting up."

Masaomi stood on stiff legs as his squinting eyes looked over to the door to find, in place of the captain, a tall and lanky figure standing there patiently. The little raven had just noticed the man too and was staring at the figure with a faltering glare. He was still extremely wary of the assassin that could have easily taken his life only a day before.

"It's been awhile, eh Volk?", the man said as his eyes squinted slightly with a smile behind his bandages.

Kida was silent as Aoba felt the hair on the back of his neck rise when blue eyes rested on him.

"I heard you and pipsqueak over here were pretty stifling at the meeting.", the Russian said as his eyes drifted away and to the world outside of the quarters.  
Kuronuma bristled at the pet name he'd been given, but didn't voice his agitation.

"He needed to be shut down before he got any weird ideas.", Masaomi said simply as he walked towards the door, followed closely by the raven.

"What did he suggest that set you two off?", the assassin asked as he walked with them towards solid land.

"He wanted us to be an alpha pair for a future wolf pack fighting unit.", Aoba spat with disgust as the man looked over to him curiously.

It was the first time the raven had spoken directly to him.

"Alpha?", the Russian responded without missing a beat "That would not have worked out anyways since you are no alpha, Pipsqueak, that is certain."

"You just pull the strings from behind the scenes while you play the part of the wolf in sheep's clothing, like the man named Orihara Izaya."  
Kuronuma huffed irritatedly as he walked past them and onto the beach at a brisk pace.

"Don't compare me to him.", Aoba said lowly as he walked towards where was beckoning them to.

Kida watched him go silently, his eyes taking in his disheveled, horrible bed hair.

"You sure have your hands full. He does not look easy to keep under control.", Egor commented as he watched the raven in question move away from the doctor's arms whom was attempting to give him one last look over.

"I don't ever control him. He listens only because he wants to.", the blonde shrugged as both males reached within earshot distance of Dr. Demyan and Aoba.

"-check your condition one more time! It's crucial!"

"You've checked me already and only about two hours ago.", Aoba coolly stated as he turned to look at Egor.0 Masaomi immediately came to the raven's side as the assassin walked towards the professor.

"When will the jeep be arriving?", the Russian asked as his eyes scanned the horizon.

"Any moment now.", the doctor replied. "Are you still acting as an escort and chaperone for these two?"

There was a nod of affirmative from the taller man as the sound of footsteps approached the group.

"Egor."

The man turned to see Dennis and Simon standing behind him.

"We are being moved to the guard unit and Varona to the infiltration unit."

"I see. Go well, brothers.", the bandaged man said with a quick duck of his head.

"Likewise, Brother, Go well.", Dennis responded as both him and Simon ducked their heads in answer.

After the quick exchange of words, the pair turned and walked towards a waiting jeep. Varona was watching them leave as well as she stood among a group of people who looked to be waiting for a different jeep to turn up. Turning back to their small group, Egor let his eyes rest on the two teens. They were standing side by side, Kida looking off towards where kept staring while Kuronuma observed Russian assassin carefully.

"You seem to have your eyes on me a lot, pipsqueak.", the man said with a bored tone.

"I could say the same to you.", the raven answered in reply.

Three sharp beeps from an approaching vehicle pulled both male's attention from one another. The greyish-green jeep that was speeding towards them stopped just in front of them as Professor Demyan moved to go climb into the front seat.

"You're late!", the man exclaimed as he sat down. "We still have to get them washed up and sedated!"

The assassin beside the pair moved to get into the back, placing himself smack dab in the middle of the backseat. He had purposely made it so that the two had to sit away from each other, most likely so that they didn't correlate with one another to jump from the open-door vehicle or something.  
"Get in.", the Russian ordered as both teens reluctantly did as they were told.

With Aoba to the man's right and Kida to the man's left, the vehicle sped away from the ship and toward the tree line of a green forest. They both hoped that they didn't have to go too far and that terrain wouldn't be too uneven, so they wouldn't fall out. It occurred to the teens that Egor may have situated himself in the middle only so he was the least at risk of the three of them. Kuronuma rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the man's presence, but irritatingly, with every movement, the bandaged man beside him bumped against his side.

"How long will it take to reach the base?", Aoba asked the bandaged man beside him.

"Only about ten minutes.", the Russian replied as he tugged at the bandages wrapped around his face.

"Can I ask you a question?", Kuronuma asked, making the assassin turn his attention to him.

"Depends on what you are asking."

"...Why are you wearing bandages?"

The Russian man paused for a moment and averted his eyes in thought.

"I was injured very badly and I had to keep them on for awhile. I think I should be fine now, but I am not sure what my face looks like at the moment."

"Just take them off then. It's irritating how secretive you're being.", the Raven stated as he looked out of the open door and at the trees whizzing by.

There was a long pause, before slight shuffling could be heard. Both Masaomi and Aoba turned quickly to see that the man was beginning to remove his bandages. The teen's exchanged a quick look of surprise and shock as they waited with baited breath to see how mauled the Russian's face was. When the white strips were peeled away, there was another bout of shock. There were no scars or bruises anywhere in sight.

His skin looked smooth, soft, and fair as if he'd never even had a blemish there at any point in his life. He had a very defined chin and jaw along with strong cheek bones. His nose was small and refined, and his eyebrows were hidden under his dirty blonde hair. Intense blue eyes looked at the two curiously as they gawked at him.

"Is it bad?", he chuckled flashing a half-smile that showed white teeth.

"No. I'm disappointed.", Aoba grumbled as he folded his arms over his chest and glared pointedly out the door.

"You're face looks fine, more than fine. You don't even have any chipped teeth!", Masaomi ranted irritatedly. "I thought that at least you'd be hideous and old if anything!"

"I guess I should have kept the bandages on, seeing that you two won't even look me in the face anymore.", the man said with his half-smile still in place.  
Kida rolled his eyes. The Russian seemed like a cocky asshole now that they could see that when he teased them or said something smart, he had that devilish smile on his face.

"So much for being scary and mysterious. Now that you took the bandages off, you don't have the power to invoke nightmares. Well maybe you do, but not the kind you want.", Kuronuma said coldly. "Don't try to put them back on now though, the effect is long gone."

The assassin sighed deeply. He'd managed to make the pair despise him even more just by taking his itchy bandages off. He'd been hoping that they'd relax more around him and even be a little trusting, but it had the complete opposite effect. The Russian had been assigned just last night by the higher-ups to train them. It was not something he really wanted to do since both of them were so difficult, but he needed to get paid. Now he was faced with the task of getting in their good graces or else teaching them anything would be impossible.

"Look! You can see the facility in the distance!", suddenly exclaimed from the front seat as he pointed at a hill they were racing towards.

Masaomi and Kuronuma's eyes flicked upwards to see a large, dull-looking building at the top of a large hill with winding roads leading up to it. Kida swallowed. This was really happening. They were closing in on their last few moments of either being alive or being normals. Brown eyes sought out for the raven's own as they used each other for strength. The chance that one of them could die was scarier than the chance that both of them would. One would be left alone with no one else to trust or confide in and it would most likely destroy them.

"Have more faith. Nothing is written in stone yet.", Egor said as he leaned back in the seat, attracting the teens's attention for a moment.

Kuronuma forced himself to relax after that. He was wearing his emotions on his face a little too clearly for comfort. The teen needed to pull himself together enough to put up a front because he sure as hell wasn't going to go out looking like a sniveling kid in his last moments. Kida was taken aback at first when Aoba's demeanor changed from completely terrified to an eerie calm, but he knew the raven well enough to know he was simply trying to hold himself together and hide his fear.  
The assassin noticed the teen's calm and also noticed how his facade served to calm Masaomi down as well. As the Russian looked at the raven, he vaguely thought that maybe Kuronuma would be a good alpha. The teen certainly had the ability to dictate people's moods, which would be helpful in stressful or tight situations. Though that might not matter a few hours from now, Egor found it hard to believe that the smaller might not make it through this. The pipsqueak had an air about him that made him seem like he could survive anything, like he could find a way to quickly adjust and keep moving forward.

"When we get there, you guys need to hurry and hop in the shower. Everything is already set up.", Professor Demyan said as he turned to look at them for a moment.

The doctor locked eyes with each teen in turn, trying to stress that he had their best interest in mind and that they shouldn't worry. This did nothing to ease Kuronuma's nerves in the least. Aoba was having a literal panic attack on the inside and he felt just about close to tears. Of course he wouldn't allow himself such weakness, especially since their captors were in the jeep and it wasn't just him and Masaomi. Because his body had no other way to let some of the tension out, the little teen was becoming so tight strung that he was shaking violently and uncontrollably. The tremors had not slipped past the Russian assassin and Kuronuma cursed his body for such a betrayal on its part. The man looked at him intensely as the raven refused to look back up at him. He must look like a kicked puppy and that was the most pathetic thing he could imagine. A little pup with a defeated look on its face and its tail between its legs huddled in the corner and hoping that nothing more would happen to him.

As they turned in to the winding roads leading up to the facility, the teen would have just gone ahead and acted like the cornered little animal he was just then if it weren't for Masaomi's presence. Oh how he would've kicked and fought and screamed and cried and punched and scratched and bit and pinched. He would have fought tooth and nail to get away, but abandoning Kida was something he couldn't do. He couldn't stand the thought of being completely alone, out in the forest with no way home. Still, that didn't stop his anxiety and fear from growing. Even if he wasn't alone, his heart still thrummed against his chest so hard he thought it'd eventually burst. Shaking hands gripped the seat to steady the raven's body as his breath came out in short inaudible huffs that eventually escalated to very audible gasps. Aoba's vision blurred as he felt himself teetering from side to side, his breathing had already alerted everyone in the jeep and he could feel everyone's eyes on him.  
He vaguely heard distant voices talking to him in panicky voices, but he paid them no mind. The raven was already lost in his whirling thoughts as the edges of his eyes began to turn a dark black. Soon the beautiful black nothingness would consume him and that would most likely be the last thing he'd see. Surprisingly, he was okay with that. Kuronuma was okay with the thought of going out without seeing any of the horrors that were sure to come. As he felt himself slowly began to fade further and further into his own mind, Aoba felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him insistently and making his head jerk back and forth roughly. The white noise that had surrounded him was slowly falling away as the voices in the jeep began to fade in before it hit him at a blaring volume.

"-ba! Aoba! Look at me, you asshole!"

The raven looked at the blonde wearily as his breath began to slowly steady. The taller teen had switched places with Egor and was now seated beside the smaller with his intense eyes looking straight into his own.

"Just calm down…Breathe. It'll be okay, Aoba.", Kida murmured softly as he tried to rub some warmth into the smaller's arms.  
Kuronuma slowly felt his breath return to normal as his grip on the seat loosened. His shaking refused to cease though as he felt so out of it that he let Masaomi continue to coddle him.

"Thank god…", said with a relieved sigh as they pulled up to the big building.

Aoba felt completely exhausted at this point. He had no more energy at all and he felt as though he were about to lose the rich meal he'd had only two and a half hours before. He was dead to what was happening around him and hardly registered the assassin and doctor getting out of the jeep.

"Can you walk, Aoba?", Kida asked as he looked at the daunting building.

Kuronuma nodded, not trusting his own voice as he slid out of the jeep on wobbly legs. Masaomi followed after him closely, ready to offer a shoulder if it was needed as led the way to the entrance. The man was already blabbing away as he quickly showed his identification card to the guards and was allowed to walk right in.

"I'll show you to the showers, but mind you, you need to be VERY quick!", the man exclaimed as his uppity voice echoed down the white halls. "Oh, I'm just so ecstatic!"

Kida felt disgust wash over him at that as he minded the teen beside him who was slowly but surely finding his feet again. The blonde already didn't like the look of the place, it was so..well white. The floors were white tile, the walls were painted eggshell white, and the majority of the furniture was white as well. By the look of distaste on Egor's face, Masaomi was able to deduct that the assassin wasn't a fan of all the white either.

"The shower room is thankfully on the first floor and just down the hall.", the professor continued as he led them down said long hallway that branched out to many others.

The place was a damn labyrinth and Masaomi saw that there was no chance of them making it far if they did ever decide to make a run for it. Beside him, Aoba was finally back from the dead as he began to take in the details of the place. His eyes darted around quickly as if taking note and filing all the information he'd gathered so far into a neat file. Kida wished he could have some faith in the fact that Kuronuma was an escape artist, but they wouldn't be here long enough for the teen to find out key things like guard changes and secret passageways.

"In here.", said as he opened a door to the right of them. "Once you guys are done washing up, you'll be taken to the third floor for the operation."

With that said, the professor nodded to the Russian assassin and walked briskly towards the elevator at the end of the hall. Both teen's watched as the man pressed the button up and the elevator door open immediately. They would have probably watched said doors close had Egor not said anything.

"You heard him before, didn't you? Be quick.", the dirty blonde man said as he opened up the shower room door wider. "The scientists have many other things to do today and being behind even one minute is a major drawback."

Masaomi and Kuronuma didn't have to be told twice. God knew when the last time they had access to a warm shower was. Kida stripped quickly as he threw his clothes into the corner of the white room and walked over to one of the shower heads that were lined up on the wall. The blonde shuddered when the warm water spurted out of the shower head and onto his back, the heat loosening his tight muscles in just seconds. Meanwhile, Aoba stood awkwardly to the side, his eyes averted from the other out of courtesy as the taller ran his hands through his hair.

"Are you going to get in, or what?", Kida asked as he looked at the raven with a slight frown.

The teen nodded, still not in the mood to speak as he slowly undressed himself. Masaomi turned back to the direction he was facing before as to not be seen as a pervert or something. When he was stark naked, Kuronuma walked to the showerhead beside Kida. He turned on the water and hoped that the blonde wouldn't look too closely at him. Kuronuma hadn't showered or changed in front of anyone since he was around four or five because of certain circumstances. Because he led such a secretive life, he avoided undressing in front of other people. People tended to be nosy or ask too many questions about something they had no business poking their nose into.  
Dirt and grime fell away as both boys diligently washed themselves clean. It felt as though pounds upon pounds of dirt were being washed down the drain. The teens were almost finished now and Masaomi was busy washing between his legs while Aoba struggled to wash his back. He tried and tried to reach on his own, but without a shower sponge it was a useless battle. The blonde didn't notice his struggles at first, but he did notice when the smaller let out a frustrated huff.

"Here, I'll help.", Kida said as he moved to go give the raven a hand.

"No!", Kuronuma said too quickly and too loudly as he took a step back. "...It's fine. I can do it on my own."

Masaomi blinked in surprise at the small outburst as a look of confusion crossed his features.

"Aoba, there's no way you can do it on your own.", the blonde finally sighed irritatedly, " Stop being stubborn and let me help."

Without waiting for the other to reply, Kida turned the smaller's body so that his back was facing him and grabbed the soap bar from the other's hands. Masaomi quickly soaped up the expanse of Kuronuma's back as the teen stood where he was, tense and silent. The blonde assumed that the smaller was feeling agitated and indignant, so he didn't speak on it. He was not in the mood to play petty games with Aoba at the moment. Once he'd finished washing the younger's back, he pushed the raven forward so that the water would run down and wash the suds away. And that's when he saw them. Light, long scars ran down the expanse of Aoba's back; crisscrossing in some areas and zig zagging in others due to the scars overlapping. Kuronuma remained silent as Masaomi pursed his lips into a thin line. So many questions were lingering on the end of the blonde's tongue, but this wasn't the time to ask them.

"Done.", Kida said simply as he stepped back and walked towards the table behind them containing towels and pale blue clothes. "We need to hurry up and get back out before Egor comes in to get us."

"Yeah.", Kuronuma murmured as he turned off both his and Masaomi's showerheads.

Aoba then turned and walked over cautiously, expecting the other to throw some questions at him. Instead of what he was expecting, the raven got a towel thrown at him as Kida moved the towel in his blonde locks to dry them. Kuronuma frowned as he stood there with the white towel in his arms.

"You're not going to ask?", the underclassmen asked as he began to dry himself off.

"About what?", the blonde responded as he dried off his back.

"Don't play stupid with me, Masaomi.", Aoba hissed. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No.", Kida replied as he threw his towel to the side. " I figured that if you wanted me to know about it, you'd tell me."

Kuronuma went silent after that as he threw his towel to the side too and walked over to put on the thin cotton pants and shirt that they'd been provided with. Masaomi had finished dressing already, but waited until the smaller was finished before he pushed open the door to leave.

"What do we do with our clothes?", the blonde asked the assassin once he'd stepped out.

"Leave them.", the Russian said simply. "The maids will come by, clean them, and then return them to you."

Without another word the man turned and walked towards the elevator, the teens following behind a bit. This time, when the button up was pressed, the elevator took longer to open than it had when had pressed it. Kida began to get antsy after waiting for a minute or so and had just started shifting foot to foot when the elevator door opened. The Russian assassin quickly stepped in and Kida and Aoba piled in quickly, sensing the urgency in the taller's demeanor. The ride up was dead silent, as was the trek to the lab. Kuronuma felt close to another panic attack as he began to feel cagey and this time he wasn't alone in this feeling. Masaomi was feeling the same as they reached a door at the end of the hall on the third floor. The dirty blonde escorting them knocked on the door with three sharp raps, resulting in the door flinging open as if it had been kicked inwards.

A man speaking fast Russian literally jumped out at them, talking in a loud tone as he spoke quickly to Egor and then herded the two confused teens inside. The assassin let out a sigh as he followed after the two he was now responsible for until their training was complete. The Russian scientist was currently getting short with the two Japanese boys as they tried their hardest to understand what it was that he was asking them. The dirty blonde cleared his throat to earn the man's attention as he said a few quick words to him, explaining that they didn't speak any Russian. The scientist nodded and rudely demanded that Egor quickly translate for them. The assassin had worked with enough irritating clients to not be fazed by this in the least.

"He wants you to step on the scale. One at a time.", the man explained to the still confused teens.

Both nodded as Kida, being the bolder of the two, stepped forward to allow the man to take down his weight. The scientist quickly shooed Masaomi off afterwards as he then pointed to Kuronuma to come up and let him take down his weight. Next, they were ushered towards a wall with a tick marked sheet on it. The man took down their height and then they were collected by a man who spoke Korean. This time Egor could do nothing to help them as the man led them to another room and gave them a standard checkup, ending with him drawing blood from them. They knew bits and pieces of what the man had told them, so they got along well enough without the assassin's help. Now, the three of them sat in silence again after the dizzying events that had taken place. They thought that they'd be sitting there for a good hour or so like they usually had to when they went to the doctors' office, but they weren't left alone for longer than five minutes before a familiar face arrived with two needles filled with a clear liquid and another two filled with a green see-through liquid.

"Hello again!", greeted as he saw the exhausted looks on the two teen's faces. "You two got the 'all clear' from , so now we're all set to put you two to sleep."

They hadn't really had a chance to think about what was happening what with how fast everything was moving, but now their fear and anxiety hit them like a ton of bricks. Professor Demyan was oblivious to this as he continued talking as always.

"The team had a major breakthrough in my absence! They figured out how to transfer the artificial dna into your own without causing any major problems to arise!", the man exclaimed while Aoba and Kida looked at the man in confusion.

"You see…", the man said as he put down the needles. " It is important that we replace dna that accounts for the presence of, let's say blonde hair, with artificial dna that accounts for the same thing or else problems could occur. It's a whole lot of mixing and matching with the artificial wolf dna and human dna."  
"Before we had to do this manually, which was dangerous and required us to open you up and operate for extended periods of time, but now we have something that will make your chance of survival up to nearly a one hundred percent chance! One of the scientists got their hands on a way to make an artificial RNA polymerase to do the transcriptions for us!"

The teen's eyes widened to the size of dish plates as they looked at the man in shock. They were going to be able to walk out of this alive! They didn't have to worry about the chance that one or both of them wouldn't make it! Sensing the relief in the air, the man added one last important key thing.  
"Ah, but let's not get carried away. There's still a chance that your body will reject the artificial dna and enzymes.", the man said with a serious frown.  
Aoba and Kida's bright smiles fell immediately as despair filled their very beings.

"Why wouldn't you just tell us the bad news first and then the good news?", Kuromuna said irritatedly as the emotional rollercoaster he was going on continued.  
"I was sandwiching it. Good news, bad news, and then good news again.", the scientist replied.

"So then, what's the good news?", Masaomi asked as his eyes showed just how extremely hopeful he was.

"Well, I'm glad you asked! The good news is that the chances of that happening is extremely slim! Also we don't have to operate!", exclaimed.  
Kida's smile fell back into place as Aoba was still guarded.

"Then why are you putting us to sleep?", the raven asked.

The scientist turned to get the first needle and then walked over to the demanding, small teen.

"We are putting you to sleep because as the dna is slowly put into place, your body goes into it's first shift from human to wolf. The first time is slow and agonizing, so it's better that you're asleep for this part.", said as he brought the needle up to the small teen's arm and pushed the liquid in before he could protest.

"What's that green stuff?", Kida asked curiously as the doctor moved on to him and pushed liquid into him too.

"The artificial dna and enzymes.", replied, "I'll give them to you as soon as you two are under."

Masaomi nodded dumbly as he felt Aoba slump onto him; out cold. Kida was about to move him to a better position when sleep overtook him as well. As the edges of the taller teen's eyes went black, he made sure to fall back onto the patient's bed so that the two wouldn't plummet to the floor. Egor watched the two silently as the doctor turned and then injected them with the artificial dna.

"How long will the process take?", the assassin asked curiously as he saw the teen's begin to jerk a bit already even though they'd just been given the artificial dna.

"All night.", the doctor replied as he disposed of the needles, "Help me move them to another room, would you?"

-Prologue For Next Chapter-

Izaya woke with a start as he sat up in his sleeping bag. It was night now and nighttime noises could be heard outside of the tent he was sharing with both Kazuki, to his left, and Shizou, to his right. The light stirring of the horses calmed the raven as he let out a shuddery breath and recalled the dream he had just had.  
In the beginning of the dream, Orihara had been tied up and in a dark place where he couldn't see anything. Nothing above him and nothing below him. It was dead silent where he was and all that was, was a constant rocking back and forth and the sound of creaking. Then, suddenly, his binds loosened and he ascended up, out of the darkness and into the air where he found himself flying at an extremely fast speed above the sea. The sky was dark and moody and an upcoming storm could be tasted on the wind, but luckily Izaya was moving fast enough to outrun it.

Then, only after a few moments, the raven reached dry land. His flight ended there as he landed facing a tree line that ran along the coast. Tracks from tires littered the sand and led out into the forest. Orihara didn't investigate for long before he teleported to somewhere up high. The coast he'd been on only a split second ago was then behind him and he quickly deducted that he was on a hill. Out of the corner of his eye, the raven saw a sign next to the road leading to where he was. The sign was in Russian, but that wasn't a problem for him since he was fluent in it. Izaya squinted as he read the words "Annuska Research Facility". The name didn't ring any bells for Orihara, so he simply thought to turn away. Before he could get a glimpse of what exactly he was standing in front of, Izaya had woken up.

"What a weird dream…", Izaya sighed as he got up to get some fresh air.

Leaving the tent behind, Orihara walked over to where the horses were tied. Sukeban let out a soft whinny as he approached, alerting the other two that someone was approaching. The palomino mare was more low-energy than usual along with the other two since they were tired. They had travelled nearly all day and had stopped just outside of Toyama. Since both Sukeban and Raiju were Anglos with lots of stamina, they didn't feel the effects of the distance as much as Hizoku did.

"How are you three holding up?", the informant asked in a murmur as he reached out a hand for the mare to push her nose into.

The raven didn't get an answering noise, which he'd somewhat expected, but he did see that Raiju was reaching out for him; which was something he hadn't expected.

"Finally ready to say 'hello'?", Izaya asked as he allowed the powerful stallion to sniff at him curiously.

The raven didn't reach out a hand to pet him, but instead moved to Hizoku to inspect the braids he'd put there at the beginning of the day. Surprisingly, they were still intact. Orihara reached up and began to undo his work, since he'd forgotten to once they'd stopped.

"What are you doing out here, flea?", a deep voice asked tiredly as footsteps approached the four.

"I couldn't sleep.", the informant stated as he didn't bother to turn around to look at Shizou. "Why are you out here?"

"You woke me up and then I couldn't go back to sleep.", Heiwajima said easily as he walked towards Raiju, who was beckoning him over with a toss of his majestic head.

"I would say sorry, but I live to be an inconvenience to you.", Orihara chuckled as he watched the bartender scratch the coal black stallion between his ears.

"I know.", the blonde said as he continued to pet the horse. "I already accepted that your only purpose in life is to destroy mine the day I met you."

Orihara hummed at that as they stood in silence for a long moment. The moon was shining down brightly as a cold chill ran through them. Winter was on the brink of being here and they could feel it hanging heavily in the air.

"Do you know what happened to my brother and Tom-san?", Shizou asked suddenly, breaking the easy silence.

Izaya sighed as he leaned his head back to look up at the stars. The bright lights from far above seemed to show brighter among all the destruction going on.

"I don't even know what happened to Namie.", the informant said distantly as he was brought back to earth by his insistent horse nibbling at his fingers.

Shizou nodded as he thought deeply for a moment. Orihara watched as his hair tossed in the wind. His brown roots were starting to grow in.

"I think we should look for them… or at least find out what happened to them. And Shinra and Celty too.", the bartender said firmly as if hardening his resolve.

"We can't, Shizu-chan.", Izaya said in a firm tone of his own. "We can't go back to look for clues and chances are that the people who DID have any clues as to what had become of them are all gone now."

Heiwajima scowled at the informant as he turned to fully face him.

"So that's it?", he growled. "You're not even going to try!?"

The raven sent the taller man the dirtiest glare he could possibly muster as he stepped back away from Sukeban, who neighed in protest.

"No. I'm not, Shizu-chan. There's a slim to zero chance that we'd be able to find out anything if we went back. The whole city of Ikebukuro is destroyed! Rubble!", Izaya hissed.

"It's better to just leave the past behind and just keep moving forward while we still can instead of going back, pinning on the small chance there is of finding anyone we knew from the city again."

Shizou looked as if he had plenty more to say about the subject, but Izaya turned away from him and away from the campsite.

"Hey! Where are you going?", the blonde asked, not finished with the conversation.

"Away!", the raven replied as he slipped into the darkness of the trees.


	7. He is the Puppeteer

Shizou stood where he was just staring in the direction that Izaya had gone. The blonde didn't know what to do now. Going back inside the tent with just Kazuki would be more than awkward since they haven't even had a conversation lasting more than a minute. If Kiyoshi happened to have been woken up by their argument, there's no way that Heiwajima could avoid having to talk to him. The man would definitely want to know what they were yelling about and would probably try to fix it; the soldier seemed like he would have the kindergarten teacher personality after all.

With a grumble, the blonde made up his mind. Shizou walked into the trees after the raven, leaving the campsite behind. In the shadows of the foliage, the moon shone through in slivers of silver light. The ice-cold breeze filtered through the leaves every few seconds, making a rustle that resonated through the small strip of forest that was somehow left untouched by the constant expansion of construction. Looking around, the bartender searched for any sign of the informant. The man was extremely quiet when he wanted to be and somehow didn't make any noises underfoot even with the seemingly millions of crunchy leaves scattered about the ground. It especially really didn't help that the raven loved to wear all black. Shizou growled in irritation seeing that finding the flea would be nearly impossible.

"What do you want, Shizu-chan?", an irritated huff sounded somewhere above Shizou.

The blonde jumped and nearly let out the most unmanly scream he'd ever produced in his lifetime, but he held it back tightly with his lips; resulting in a strangled sound escaping instead. Heiwajima heard a soft sigh and whipped around to see that Orihara was up in a tree, straddling a branch. The man's hood was up and his black jacket and pants camouflaged him so well that the only way the taller could tell he was there was because his reddish-brown eyes were in just the right position for the silvery light of the moon to shine directly onto them. The informant almost looked like an animal lurking in the shadows and it left the blonde feeling a little unsettled.

"What are you doing? Doesn't that hurt your shoulder?", Heiwajima hissed, saying whatever came to his mind first for lack of anything to say.

"I'm observing and no. I'm still quite capable since I was blessed with two arms instead of just one.", the man replied as he looked up into the foliage above and continued his climb upwards.

"Are you crazy? Just come back down before you break your neck or something. I definitely won't be dragging your crippled ass along if you fall and become paralyzed.", Shizou sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

A light, airy chuckled could be heard as the raven climbed at a slow and steady pace.

"Be careful what you say, Shizu-chan, or I'll start to think you actually care about me."

Heiwajima felt anger rise up in him at that and tsked in response as he turned to go to a nearby tree and sit with his back against the trunk.

"Fine. Do what you want.", the bartender growled as he watched the male with mild interest.

Izaya felt his left arm shaking with the effort of holding up pretty much all his weight as he neared an area where he could see where they came from clearly. One more branch and he'd be able to see if they were still being pursued and how closely. The next branch wasn't so sturdy, but Orihara was sure that his body wasn't too heavy a burden for it. With a great amount of effort, the man climbed up onto the final branch. Below, Shizou watched with a little bit of anxiety. It didn't matter who it was doing something risky because his human instinct to care about others didn't see the difference between enemies and friends.

Orihara scanned the horizon with narrowed eyes. The moon was shining so brightly that he could see as clearly as if it were daytime. There was nothing at all. No men, no horses, and no fires; just the pale expanse of dried grass that spread out over the landscape and over the small hill they had gone over. He was in the right to feel paranoid, but there was nothing around. When the informant was about to turn away and climb back down, a figure appeared. It didn't take the raven longer than three seconds to see that it was a lone man atop a horse. It was most likely a scout. Izaya held his breath and prayed that the strip of forest kept the campsite away from the man's view as the soldier paced his horse back and forth along the hill.

After a long two minutes, the man seemed to have either gave up or was satisfied with whatever he found as he turned his horse and rode back over the hill and out of sight. Orihara let out a sigh of relief at the fact that they weren't going to launch an attack now of all times, but the relief didn't last long as a sickening crack was heard from the branch he was sitting on top of. The male atop the branch had no time to react before the limb of the tree gave out and he fell back down to the branch Shizou had first seen him on. He fell stomach first onto it and the air was knocked out of him immediately.

The bartender was now standing as he looked up at the raven who was now gasping for air and coughing and wheezing. Izaya's vision had gone completely black at this point and his head was swimming. He wasn't seriously hurt and his shoulder had been spared of any more damage, but he was sure he'd have a big bruise from his ribs to the middle of his stomach.

"Dammit, Flea! I knew you were going to fucking fall!", the blonde yelled from below the raven.

Izaya's head had stopped swimming by then and his breath was returning to him. Lifting himself up into the sitting position, the informant let out a heavy groan. The raven honestly thought he was going to fall all the way down and break some things that would require the medical attention that they didn't have access to anymore.

"Do you think you broke anything?", the bartender asked as the informant jumped the rest of the way down.

"No.", Izaya sighed as his stomach began to flop.

Orihara felt that surely he was going to throw up and that's exactly what he did not even three steps later. What little he had eaten today was lost with three heaves as Shizou awkwardly stood to the side, not knowing what to do. When he was done with that, the raven decided to share his findings with the blonde.

"A scout was on the hill. They must be somewhere close.", Izaya panted out as he brought himself to full height again.

Then, with the grace of a newborn fawn, Orihara began to walk towards the campsite.

Heiwajima followed behind, his eyes looking towards the hill. They'd have to get a move on early the next morning.

"We're going to have to abandon him.", the raven said quietly after a few moments of silence as he leaned against a tree for a moment.

"Wait! What?!", the bartender hissed as he looked over at the man he had actually felt a little bad for a moment before.

That pity was immediately erased as the blonde began to wish that the informant had fallen all the way to the dirt packed ground and gotten seriously hurt.

"We're going to have to abandon him.", Izaya repeated. "They're after Kazuki for insubordination. That is a treason punishable by death, so I doubt they'll let him walk away scott-free."

Heiwajima felt absolute disgust and rage wash over him as he looked at the raven beside him. Without warning, the blonde turned and punched the informant hard, his body flying to the side. The punch didn't carry even a fraction of the taller man's strength behind it, but it didn't mean it still didn't hurt. Orihara held back an impending groan and glared up at his approaching attacker.

"Guess you didn't fall for me after all, Shizu-chan.", Izaya ground out with his usual smirk as he forced his head to stop spinning.

Without responding to the comment, the blonde pulled up Orihara by his jacket and roughly pushed his forehead into the raven's.

"Tell me that you're fucking kidding. He's done so much for us and you just wanna leave him like none of that means shit to you!?", Shizou spat.

"This isn't about how nice Kazuki is. It's about not getting captured, or worse: killed.", Orihara growled back, his reddish-brown eyes glinting in the moonlight. "I gave him a fair warning when I first met him. He said that he trusted me and I clearly told him that he shouldn't. He knew the conditions when he decided to leave with me, so I don't feel bad for him in the least."

The bartender's fists balled up tighter on the man's jacket as a vein popped on his forehead.

"He probably didn't know that you were being serious! Everything you say sounds sarcastic, so I bet he didn't fucking know you really would!"

"Then that's his problem. I'm not going to sacrifice my own safety to stick around someone whom in keeping around does more harm than good."

"I can't just leave him! I'm not a heartless bastard like you.", Heiwajima growled as Izaya's eyes narrowed.

"Then stay. I'm not forcing you to come with me."

At that, the bartender let the raven go and stared down at him with the utmost revulsion.

"You're sick.", the man said before he turned to go back to the tent.

With a long sigh, Izaya rubbed his now bruising cheek.

"Still as irrational as always.", Orihara smirked. "Well, I should be happy that you at least held back. I'm surprised you didn't just break my face like you've always wanted to."

"Don't make me change my mind about that, Flea.", Shizou growled as the raven clambered to his feet and followed the man back to the tent.

Izaya let out a whine that ended in a guttural groan. His face felt as though he'd run face first into a moving train, but surprisingly his ribs and stomach hardly even ached. Sitting up slowly, the raven realized that it was early in the morning as he could see the two bodies on either side of him clearly. Immediately Orihara's mind thought back to the man on horseback from the night before and the man debated on whether or not he should just leave now or wait until a later time. Now would be the perfect time to, considering how close they were to Toyama. The informant could quickly ride out to the town, look for supplies he'd need, and then be on his way once he had everything. Kazuki had said that the south wasn't being taken over, so as long as he was moving southwards, he'd be okay.

"Orihara...What happened to your face?", a tired sounding voice suddenly asked jerking Izaya from his thoughts.

The raven absentmindedly lifted his hand to touch the left side of his face and hissed when his fingers as much as brushed against the tight, swollen skin there. He mentally kicked himself for being such an idiot as he heard Kiyoshi sigh.

"I heard you guys fighting last night, but I didn't think it would escalate to physical violence.", the brunette said as his piercing evergreen eyes assessed the damage that had been done.

The informant sat where he was patiently as he allowed the older male to ghost his fingers over his bruised cheek to make sure it wasn't broken; his eyes averted to the side. The brunette was so gentle and caring that it made Izaya a little unsure of himself. He was planning on just leaving without saying a word, but now something inside him was telling him that he should at least tell the green eyed male everything, give him a reason for his wanting to leave, before he took off.

"Is Heiwajima hurt too?", Kazuki asked gently as he stared passed the informant and to the blonde who was still asleep.

"I didn't even touch him.", Izaya stated as he watched the worried expression on the brunette's face vanish.

With that being taken care of, the soldier grabbed a black bag to the left of him and began to crawl out of the tent. The raven hesitated for a few moments and then crawled out after him. The sun had gone up a little more and the landscape was bathed in a thick fog that hid anything five yards out completely. The eerie sound of crows cawing made the grim scenery even more so. A little ahead near the fence in which they tied their horses, Kiyoshi stood with his back to Izaya. He almost looked like an illusion as he stood there unmoving and seemingly staring into nothingness.

Taking a slow breath in and out, Orihara walked up to the brunette slowly. He was going to let him know about what was lurking just beyond the edges and that he was leaving. Izaya supposed he could do that much considering he'd been saved from being captured because this man had decided to tell him what was happening.

"Kazuki…", the informant said in a calm voice, making the taller man turn to face him with a questioning look on his face., "I have to leave."

Izaya searched deeply into the man's eyes as his words passed through his lips and out into the air. Evergreen eyes flickered from a number of emotions until they settled on a mix of three: Confusion, worry, and sadness. Orihara noticed that not once had betrayal even lightly touched his irises. There was a long moment of just silence, until the brunette sighed deeply.

"If you really feel like you need to, then go ahead. I can't keep you from leaving.", the man said with a great reluctance in his eyes. "Is it too much to ask why?"

Orihara blinked a few times. It had been that easy. Without even a word against it, Kazuki had just begrudgingly accepted that he was going to leave.

"I saw a scout on the hill last night. They're close but they're after you, so if I leave then I shouldn't be at risk anymore.", the raven said evenly.

The man's eyes widened a bit before a look of hope and just a bit of relief passed through his eyes. Quickly the man pulled a black object out of the black bag he was holding and held it up for Orihara to see clearly. A walkie-talkie.

"You already-"

"The man on horseback from last night is Private Mikoshiba and is one of the two scouts that Lieutenant Momoru sent to track my movements. The rest of the squad was never deployed due to manpower being needed back at the quarters.", Kiyoshi explained as his eyes went from soft and caring to a darker look. "The lieutenant is waiting for word from the head of the Defense before he makes his move, thus the reason he's making sure he knows my location until then. We need to get rid of the scouts before the verification of action comes in and get moving out of the area quickly."

Orihara had to hand it to the brunette, he was smarter than he'd thought him to be. Izaya would gladly admit that he had sorely underestimated Kiyoshi in his abilities, but question was...could he even go through with it? Kazuki was kindhearted and seemed like the type that wasn't capable of killing another human being.

"Can you really do that?"

"Do what?"

"Kill."

Kiyoshi let a bittersweet half smile paint his features, his eyes hard with resolve.

"Have more faith in me. I can do what needs to be done.", the brunette said as Orihara eyed the hillside. "They've taken many lives themselves anyways. I'd be avenging innocent people. It's the least I can do since I was too much of a coward back then to save them."

And there it was. That softness. Of course he'd rationalize it to make it seem like he wasn't doing anything morally wrong. Not that that mattered anyways. As long as he was willing to kill, then that was good enough for Izaya.

"So are you staying or…"

"If YOU can manage to pull this off, then yes.", Orihara said simply.

"Why just me?", Kazuki asked, genuinely confused.

The poor idiot. As if Izaya would ever directly get his hands dirty. He is the puppeteer after all and everyone else, the puppets.

"There really are a lot of things you don't know about me, Kazuki-kun.", the raven laughed and not in the light airy way that the evergreen eyed soldier was used to. "I love humans. All of them. The whole entire human race. .One."

Kiyoshi watched utterly confused by such weird declarations and how Izaya's personality had switched on a dime. Orihara saw the look on the man's face and laughed again as he put his hands in his pockets and twirled around in a circle that left him a few steps away from the taller.

"Answer me this, Kazuki-kun. Since I love humans so much, why would I kill them?", the shorter man asked with his classic smirk in place.

"...You wouldn't."

"Exactly. I'm sure you've heard of the infamous informant of Ikebukuro. There's no way you couldn't have since I have connections stretching all over Japan and even overseas."

Kiyoshi's eyes widened. How the hell did the name slip his mind when he'd first met Izaya? He'd heard the name many times yet Orihara had him so dumbstruck that he hadn't even remembered.

"Y-You're...THE Izaya Orihara...", Kazuki said in absolute shock as a dangerous gleam showed in Orihara's eyes.

"So I'm sure you know how I operate. I'm honestly surprised that you haven't figured it out by now.", the man chuckled. "Oh and Shizou Heiwajima. He's better known as the Monster of Ikebukuro. I'm positive you know of the name."

The brunette felt his knees go weak. He'd been sleeping in the same tent as possibly the most dangerous pair Japan had ever known before the hybrids. The angelic and charismatic man he'd met beside the stream?….Was that all a lie? A fabrication? No. He refused to believe that. The Izaya he'd met that day was the same one standing in front of him. People weren't one-dimensional. People had multiple sides to them and the side he'd happened to come across was the more vulnerable side of him. Sharp tongued, but wearing his heart on his sleeves.

This side of him was an absolute opposite. Every human emotion was replaced with indifference, his light attitude had become heavy and overwhelming. He reeked of danger and seemed to be pushing everyone away rather than sucking them in.

"You're so unbelievably complex. Just when I thought I was beginning to actually get to know you a little bit, you pull a one-eighty on me,", the brunette sighed as if this all wasn't that big of a deal. "Well... I guessed there was more to you and honestly I would have been disappointed if that wasn't the case."

What else was lurking just behind the seams? Just how deep was the personality that was Izaya? There's bound to be more and Kazuki had a feeling that even if he spent the rest of his life exploring the shorters depths, he'd never reach the bottom; never be able to fully understand him.

"So...If you're still willing to go through with this, I have a plan.", Orihara said. "Mind you, this plan is between just you and me. Don't breathe a word of it to Shizu-chan."

"Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it.", Kazuki said firmly.

"What are you planning?", Shizou asked as they walked their horses a little ways behind Kazuki's.

"What are you talking about, Shizu-chan?", the informant answered easily.

Heiwajima made a noise of frustration, making Raiju snort and startle a bit.

"Don't play dumb with me. You're different than before."

"Really? How so?", Izaya asked with a classic smirk.

"It's just-! I know the old you and for a while you weren't the old you; the asshole you that fucked people over and made my skin crawl. Right now you're the old you. I can just feel it. Something made you completely switch to that scheming bastard that you usually are and I want to know what that something is."

Orihara inwardly cursed. How was it that this monster could see right through him? It should be impossible. Heiwajima had always hated him and never cared to try and figure him out. Why could he just simply SENSE a change in him?

"Hmm… I didn't think you were one for detail. That's usually my forte. I'm glad I'm rubbing off on you a bit though. It would be sad if you stayed a mindless monster for forever.", the raven said calmly before he urged Sukeban to a trot and caught up with Kiyoshi.

"Hey! Don't avoid the question!", Heiwajima yelled as Izaya pointedly ignored him.

Izaya sighed as he kept his head forward, capturing Kazuki's attention without arising suspicion from behind.

"He's onto me already.", the informant simply said before he started Sukeban forward at a gallop.

Izaya rode over to the top of the next hill and looked down at the expanse ahead of them. The town was waiting for them, peaceful and silent. Behind them, Orihara could see that the scouts were nowhere to be seen, which confirmed his assumption that they moved only at night. Kiyoshi rode up beside the shorter male and looked down at the town along with him.

"Go down and get set up. We'll be waiting west of here.", Izaya said quickly before he looked to Heiwajima and jerked his head in the direction he was going to head in.

Shizou watched as Kazuki rode his horse over the hill and then looked to the informant questioningly.

"Don't worry. We aren't leaving him., the raven said plainly as he rode westwards.

The blonde ground his teeth together. What was he plotting and how deeply was Kazuki involved? He had to know. Just how was Izaya using him?

"Try all you want to hide things from me, but I will find out eventually.", Shizou growled as he pushed Raiju to catch up with Sukeban until they were side by side.

"Is that so?", Izaya asked, keeping his head forward.

"I'm not as stupid as you think.", the blonde responded as he let his anger simmer down.

The informant didn't comment as he looked up at the blue sky above them. Whether it ended with the evergreen eyed soldier returning or with him dead and rotting into the ground, the problem concerning the scouts would be over and he and Shizou would no longer be at risk. Though he'd usually be relieved at this, Orihara found himself wishing that he could have said more to the brunette before he took off, a 'thank you' or a 'well, this may be it' or a 'see you in the next life' or something, but he couldn't go back on anything now. If Kiyoshi didn't come back, then that was that. There's no changing how fate turns out. Orihara would simply move on, throw his past out behind him and survive.

All that mattered was staying alive. No matter what he had to do, who he had to manipulate; he'd make sure that he survived.

"Izaya... You pretty much sent him to his death...Didn't you?", the blonde beside him said as he stopped his black stallion in his shock.

The informant stopped Sukeban a few steps later, his head hung low as a momentary frown from his distaste at being completely found suddenly curled upwards into the sickening smirk he always wore.

"Who knows?"

"They still haven't woken up yet?", Egor asked as he walked through the door of the hospital-like room.

sighed and shook his head as he looked over to the completely shifted teens.

"It's expected, but it's still nerve wracking.", the doctor replied as he looked over to the golden-brown lump of fur that was now Masaomi Kida.

"Kida has such a peculiar color… a nearly solid golden-brown color in fur is rare for grey wolves."

"I see.", Egor said as he looked over to the smaller wolf who seemed to have a more typical color.

"Also, Aoba seems to have some pretty distinct markings.", the professor commented as he turned to the dark grey and white wolf to the left of him. "Two white,circular eyebrow markings, white lower jaw, and a white underbelly...I just wonder what color eyes they have."

The assassin sighed at the older man. It would make more sense to be worried about whether they'll wake up okay or if they'll be able to revert back to their previous states, but the man was presently concerned about their unusual colors and markings and what color their eyes will be. Before the man could comment on this, a deep whine emitted from the dark grey wolf as he came out of his medicine induced slumber. The doctor sprang up immediately, his excitement nearly bubbling over as he began to talk to Aoba.

The small teen struggled to open his eyes as harsh light assaulted his irises. Somewhere in the background, he could hear the annoying doctor's voice blabbering on in the distant background. He couldn't distinguish any actual words from the constant roll of sounds coming from the older man's voice, but it was slowly becoming clearer. The small teen let out a long sigh as his eyes finally snapped open and his body jerked, trying to wake itself up from the onslaught of medication that had been thrown at it.

"His eyes are grey! I never would have thought-! Amazing!"

That's when Aoba remembered just exactly what had been done to him. The teen jumped so violently that his body fell from the hospital bed and onto the white tiled floor,belly-first. In shock, Aoba looked down and found that his arms and hands were replaced with thick, dark grey fur and paws. When Kuronuma tried to pull himself to his feet it was a little awkward at first, but thanks to having had to crawl around during his first few months of his childhood, it was an easy adjustment. The wolf turned his head to look behind himself and found that he had a tail. In disbelief, the teen turned a tight circle as if he were trying to capture it. Then, he simply stood stock-still, the fur on his back rising in distress. Aoba didn't even know what to do.

"It will take a bit to adjust, so don't worry if you feel off.", said as he watched the teen in absolute delight.

Aoba then noticed how thickly the room smelt of cleaning supplies and medication; it was suffocating. His nose was picking up smells that he usually wouldn't hardly notice at all. Kuronuma pushed that to the back of his mind for now as his eyes scanned the room and landed on Egor, who was even more tall and intimidating now than before.

'Where's Kida?' the teen wanted to ask, but found that his words only came out as a short series of whines, growls, and little barks.

The assassin didn't have a clue what the dark grey wolf was trying to say to him, but the look in his eyes conveyed everything he was trying to get across to him. Egor jerked his head in the direction of the beds and Aoba raced over to it awkwardly, still not sure of his movements. When he reached the bed he was sure Masaomi was on, he reared up onto his back legs and found that there was a bigger wolf laying atop it. The doctor had grown silent, watching the teen's movements to see if there was anything wrong with his body. Without a long time of hesitation, Kuronuma lifted one of his big paws and slammed it down on the older wolf's back.

A growl was heard, but Aoba was insistent. He went back down onto all fours again and then reared up with both paws ready to push into the golden-brown wolf's side. This time, Kida was pushed completely off the bed and Kuronuma quickly ran around to the other side to meet him. The blonde was faster to react to what had happened to him as he looked down at his paws and quickly pushed himself into a standing position, going in a tight circle to get a look at his body.

'Kida!', Aoba began excitedly. 'We're alive!'

Masaomi looked over to the shorter for a long moment before he walked over slowly without responding, his copper eyes intense as he stared at the shorter wolf. He looked aggressive and the smaller was unsure of whether or not the golden brown male had shifted to an actual wolf or not. Kuronuma felt his hackles raise and a growl begin in his throat as he took an unsure step backwards. At that, Kida pinned back his ears and averted his eyes to the side.

'I won't hurt you. I just want to look.', the golden brown wolf said as the doctor yelled something about copper.

Aoba let himself relax as he lowered his eyes to the floor.

'Then go ahead.'

The taller wolf walked forward again and pressed his nose to the back of the shorter teen's ear. The distinct smell of Aoba was even clearer in this form. Kida received a growl and a warning bite for that one and the older simply turned his shoulder and took the sharp bite there instead of his face. Done with that, Masaomi circled the smaller wolf and took in his new appearance while Aoba took in his.

'So... Do you feel weird or anything?', the golden brown wolf asked the dark grey.

'Nooo! Of course not!', Aoba responded sarcastically, his grey eyes cutting into the older's. 'I'm just suddenly a wolf, but you know. It doesn't feel weird or anything.'

"Aoba's wrist must have healed during the shift!", the doctor said to the Russian assassin who had noticed that Kuronuma wasn't limping even slightly and commented on it. " Amazing! His body must have hyper-repaired while the artificial Dna was being put into place. The only explanation I can think of for why this happened is that when he shifted, his bones fused together to make the shift absolutely complete."

The pair looked over to the man, their copper and grey eyes glued to him in shock. Aoba hadn't realized that he was walking just fine and that he wasn't feeling any pain. The teen lifted his once injured front leg and looked at it in confusion. Well, at least he wasn't going to hurt anymore.

"Nevermind that. Right now, we need to observe you two for a bit. How about going outside and testing your new bodies out a bit, hmmm?"

Kuronuma let out a sigh as he set his paw back down, not feeling like going outside in the least while Kida's ears pricked upwards with interest. The doctor turned to open the door and held it wide for both teens to walk through, followed closely by Egor. Kuronuma quickly grew irritated at how every sound seemed to be extremely loud in this form when the footsteps of the group echoed loudly off the the halls and he could hear the already loud professor at an even louder volume.

"I'll show them how to switch back later.", the doctor responded to something the russian man had said. "For now we just need to make sure nothing's wrong."

'It already feels normal…', Kida commented as his steps became more and more confident.

Kuronuma was silent for a long moment as he struggled to come to terms with what was happening to him.

'It does.', he finally answered as he pushed his lingering thoughts away for the time being.

Everything was moving too quickly for him to comprehend anything right now. Just a day ago, they didn't have this ability and just a couple days before that, they were on their way to find Izaya.

The ride down on the elevator was relatively silent save for the non-stop babbling of the doctor, but everyone had gotten so used to it that it didn't affect them anymore. Both Aoba and Kida walked down the hall towards the entrance side by side, their pelt's just barely touching as they looked towards the light of day.

"When we let you out of this door, feel free to go wherever you'd like except anywhere past the facility. We can see you pretty clearly from up on this hill with binoculars.", said as they neared the doors leading out.

A quick show of i.d. and both wolves were free. Aoba immediately disliked the feel of asphalt on his paws and lowered his ears at it as he stepped onto the black surface. Masaomi, on the other hand, didn't seem to be too affected as he took in all the sights and sounds he usually wouldn't be able to pick up in his human form. The birds chirping in the trees and the wind blowing past noisily was amplified by seemingly a hundred and Kida felt like he was experiencing the world for the first time.

'This is amazing, Aoba…', the bigger wolf said as he took everything in quickly.

The shorter was slower to adjust as he kept his ears pinned to his head. He just wanted to be back in human form again and be able to sit in a room and digest everything that was happening.

'How fast do you think we can run?', Kida asked as he looked down at the forest that was calling for him.

Before he got an answer from the dark grey wolf, the copper eyed male took off down the hill.

'Don't just run away!', Kuronuma called as he took off after him.

The shorter wolf easily caught up with the older and even surpassed him as he found that he could move much faster than he could before. Kida yipped excitedly as he found himself feeling liberated. The landscape was a swirl of color around him and it seemed like his paws never touched the ground as he raced into the trees. The air rushed passed the golden brown wolf's ears and the sound urged him to run even faster, falling into step with the smaller.

'I feel like I can run forever and never get tired!', Aoba yelled out in a surprised tone to Masaomi, focusing more on how strong and capable his body was over the things around him.

'I know! I wonder exactly how fast we're going!', the taller replied in awe of what his new body could do.

The pair continued to run towards the coast through the thick forest; the sounds of their paws crashing through the underbrush being the only thing clearly heard through the wind. Kuronuma had long since fallen into a steady pace that didn't exert hardly any of his energy while the golden brown wolf continued to push his body's boundaries. The shorter male was about to tell him to slow down a bit when something rank hit his nose, compelling him to stop in his tracks while Kida surged onwards. Panting, the dark grey wolf turned to his right where the smell was coming from and slowly walked the scent trail to it's source. The forest around him was slowly coming to life and the sound of small forest animals began to fill the air in a symphony of unique sounds.

Aoba found that he was more in tune with the world around him. He heard more, smelt more, felt more. The teen found himself actually enjoying this outing a bit as he continued to track the unknown object that he was set on finding. With ease, the dark grey wolf climbed through a rocky ravine while a little chipmunk yelled at him from the roots of a nearby tree. Leaping over some rocks and climbing over others until he reached the top of it. The smell was stronger now and he felt as though he were close. For a short moment, Kuronuma found himself wondering if he should really just be blindly tracking something when he had no clue what it could be. He didn't have much time to reflect when a thicket rustled making the wolf tense up and his hackles raise. Kuronuma was soon going to find out and he quickly realized that he had nowhere to run but either down the ravine or forward and past the unknown creature.

Aoba prayed it was a deer or something, but that hope was thrown out the window when an angry and monstrous squeal sounded from within the thicket. The teen immediately knew what was within. A wild boar charged out at him and Aoba managed to move out of the way of it just in time to avoid a direct hit. It was fairly large, but it thankfully wasn't of monster proportion; much to Kuronuma's relief. The relief didn't last long when the boar turned to charge at him again. The teen growled as he tried to evade the beast, but he was clipped by the sharp tusks of the wild pig as it went by.

He wasn't seriously injured in the least, his wolf hide being much tougher than his human skin, but it had cut him a bit and knocked the air out of him. If he wasn't absolutely terrified before, then he sure as hell was now. Without waiting for the pig to turn and strike him again, the little wolf turned tail and ran back down the ravine; tripping and sliding on the way. Apparently this boar was a predator on the prowl and looking for a meal because it followed right after him. Now it was time for the dark grey wolf to panic. He was completely lost, the trees blocking out the hill completely, and now he was being chased by a boar that he was positive wanted to kill him. The teen knew that he could easily trace his own steps back to where he could find his way to the facility or even call to Kida with a long howl, but how could he do that while running for his life?

When the wolf felt the breath of the beast on his back legs, Aoba really put his foot to the petal as he quickly raced away. He had been trying to conserve his energy so that he could make sure he didn't tire out too fast and get caught, but all that was thrown out the window as he sped away as fast as his legs could carry him. Luckily it was much faster than the wild pig. The wolf left the boar behind and it soon gave up once he got far enough away from it, but the dark grey wolf didn't stop running. Not when his lungs began to burn, not when his legs began to ache, and not even when his breathing became labored. The teen was absolutely petrified and was scared that if he stopped running, that he'd just be attacked by something else.

Aoba did eventually have to stop though and when he did, he had absolutely no clue where he was. Why no one had send jeeps after him was beyond him until the dark grey wolf looked at just how thick the forest was. No way in hell was anyone even going to be able to get a horse through here without difficulty. The teen panted harshly as his dry throat cried out for water. Luckily the trickle of a small creek could be heard somewhere nearby and Aoba easily and cautiously made his way over to it. Drinking the water was a difficult task at first, since he thought to slurp it first instead of lapping at it and wound up choking as a result. The technique took a second to catch onto, but the teen eventually figured it out.

Once his thirst was thoroughly quenched, the wolf sat on his rear and thought long and hard about what to do. He immediately thought of just leaving the facility behind and roaming the forest until he came across a town or something, but the teen didn't know how to shift back to human form and he definitely could not leave without Masaomi.

'Should I just try to track my way back, find Kida, and then run?'

Kida was absolutely frantic. He'd looked for the smaller wolf everywhere, but there had been no sign of him. He'd been filled in on what had happened by Egor, who had been driven down to the coast to tell him what was going on and to help track Aoba down. Apparently, a boar had chased Kuronuma past the facility and deeper into the thick woods. They had parties searching for him, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Masaomi was the only one who had any hope of finding him and he couldn't find him either. The trail had gone cold once the scent of boar had tapered off. The wetness of the forest after a rain was masking his scent completely.

The older refused to give up though. He was either going to find a corpse or Aoba alive and well. With his nose to the ground, the golden brown wolf tried to pick up the younger's scent. He'd worked this area over about a dozen times now, but Egor was patient and allowed the male to try and figure this out.

"Wait, what are we doing?", The Russian man said as he slapped his hand to his face.

Kida looked up at the man curiously, waiting to be told what was going through the man's mind.

"Howl, Volk. The pipsqueak should be able to hear it as far out as ten miles.", the man urged as Masaomi mentally slapped himself for not thinking of this sooner.

Immediately, the golden brown wolf lifted his head and called out. Kida was surprised at just how loud he was for a moment, but pushed that aside for now. He just prayed that he'd get an answer. When his call died down, the wolf pricked his ears forward to hear any incoming calls. Nothing, nothing, and more of nothing until finally ,after a good two minutes, the lonesome sounding responding howl echoed through the trees. The assassin had no clue where it was coming from, but Masaomi obviously did as he ran to the left and raced towards the sound. After a few yards, the golden brown wolf called again and this time he got the response quicker. He wanted to make sure that he was going in the right direction before he strayed too far away or something.

Soon after heading in the direction of the smaller teen, Masaomi was able to pick up his scent again. He followed the trail as Egor jogged along behind. Kida tracked the scent until he reached a creek that cut through the forest and then it just kind of stopped.

'I'm up here.', Kuronuma called as he raced down to the taller wolf.

The older male immediately smelt blood on the younger and felt anger melt away any of the relief he felt.

'You're fucking hurt!', Kida growled as he met the dark grey wolf halfway. 'Why did you decide to just go off on your own? '

Aoba paused as his own relief fell away from him and anger replaced it.

'I'm not a child, Masaomi. I don't need to be with you twentyfourseven.', the teen snottily replied .

'Obviously you do since you not only almost got mauled by a boar, but also managed to get yourself LOST!', the golden brown wolf said as he got into the younger's face and towered over him.

Aoba didn't back down as he rose himself to a higher stance and growled back with more ferocity than the older male had.

'I would have just followed my scent back! I wasn't as helpless as you thought I was!'

'Oh really? The scent goes completely cold not even that far back! You would have been just lost out here!'

Egor watched the pair silently as their argument progressed. He had no clue what was being said, but he could easily guess. Kida was finally trying to put a tight leash on Aoba, but the pipsqueak wasn't having it.

'So what if it goes cold a few times? Obviously you suck at tracking sense I was able to easily track down that boar! The trail went cold a dozen times, yet I always found it again!', Kuronuma yelled as he felt seconds away from just fighting it out rather than talking it out.

That comment completely set Kida off. His anger flaring up to the point of no return.

'Are you fucking stupid?! You TRACKED it down!? You walked straight up to it like a fucking IDIOT!'

'I OBVIOUSLY didn't know it was a boar or else I WOULDN'T have tried to find it!', The dark grey wolf defended himself.

'I just don't want to see you dead, okay?! How many times do I have to save you from getting killed?!', Kida yelled back.

'I didn't ask for you to look after me!'

'You fucking made me PROMISE that I WOULD!', Kida nearly roared.

And that was when Kuronuma pounced, teeth bared and ready to sink into whatever he could get a hold of. The bigger wolf let out a vicious sounding growl as he felt teeth sink into his shoulder and latched onto the shorter's own shoulder, easily lifting him up off the ground and slamming him back down into it. That was a mistake on his part since the force only served to make Aoba's teeth nearly rip out a chunk of his flesh because the younger refused to let go.

Before the fight could escalate further, Egor intervened. He pulled them away from each other easily and thanked god that the two weren't familiar enough with their new bodies to really do any damage, but now he was all the more reluctant to teach them the skills they needed for the battlefield, seeing that those skills may be just used against one another.

"Calm down. There's no need to fight.", the Russian man said in an authoritative voice when the snarls refused to die down.

Once they'd simmered down to a low burn, Egor released them.

"For now, you guys can revert back to your human forms.", the tall man began. "Just think 'shift' and that should work. I have your old clothes in my backpack."

The pair shifted back immediately and slid on their clothes without a word. Kida noticed how Aoba kept his back facing away from the Russian man and wondered again what exactly had happened to him. As his eyes scanned the expanse of the smaller's skin, he found that Kuronuma had a long scratch on his left shoulder to add to the mural of scars littering his back. He felt a weird emotion bubble up in him until the younger's shirt was pulled over it all, hiding it from view. Aoba must have noticed him staring because his brown eyes glared at him with more malice than he'd ever seen in them before he turned away. Masaomi locked eyes with Egor and found that the man was giving him a curious look.

"Let's head back.", Kida said as he looked away, not in the mood to explain what had happened to the man yet.

-Prologue For Next Chapter-

"We have to go back and get him!", Shizou yelled as he moved to turn back.

"Don't, Shizou.", the informant said quickly grabbing hold of Raiju's bridle before he could move.

"I'm not going to just let him die!", the blonde yelled as he looked at the shorter male with a mix of panic and anger.

"I'm not going to let you get in the way.", Izaya stated coldly as he grabbed a fistful of blonde hair and dragged him off of his horse, the raven falling off his horse too as a result.

Heiwajima was dazed for a moment before he snapped back to life when he felt Izaya straddle him. He began to struggle against the shorter's grasp on his locks and tried to push the shorter off. It only resulted in the bartender nearly having the hair ripped out of his scalp and irritation bubble up in his body. The raven's shoulder was screaming at this point, begging him to stop, but he couldn't just let the blonde go back.

"Get...OFF!", Shizou yelled as Orihara brought a hand around the male's throat, pressing his thumb and index finger to the base of his neck and squeezing hard, his other hand moving down from the man's hair to join the other.

Heiwajima sputtered and tried to push him away again, but the lack of oxygen filling his lungs was slowly making him weaker. Izaya squeezed even harder as he felt a hand find it's way into his own hair and yank his head back viciously, making his neck crack painfully. The raven wrenched his eyes shut against the pain as he held and held until the hand loosened and the blonde fell unconscious. Orihara immediately let go after that as Shizou's limp body took in a sharp breath, snatching all the oxygen out of the air that it had been robbed of.

"Sorry to do this to you, Shizu-chan.", the informant sighed as he still sat, perched on the man's lap.

Izaya looked over to Raiju and Sukeban who had watched the scene calmly as if this was something completely ordinary. The shorter male cursed when he saw just how tall the Anglo Arab was. He was definitely shorter that Hizoku, but he was still fairly tall.

"Well… Let's get you back on the horse then.", the informant said as he looked back down at the still unconscious bartender.


	8. Wake Up

Silence resonated around the room as the door to the room Aoba and Kida were going to be staying in for the time being clicked shut and locked. It was a simple little space that luckily included a bathroom and had a plain and simple decor. The walls were a dark shade of grey and the beds on either side of the room were donned with grey and white sheets with pillows that looked straight out of a magazine cover. The rug was plush and of course, white along with the dresser and lamp that were filling up the small area. A little ways in front of the doorway was a black table with four chairs around it and two steaming plates of chicken and rice resting on top of it.

Without a word, Kuronuma sat down at the table and pulled his plate to him. He hadn't talked to the blonde or as much as looked in Masaomi's direction on the way back. The smaller was practically sizzling with anger while Kida had completely simmered down. The blonde felt a little regretful that the very first thing he had said to Aoba was anything other than 'Are you okay?', but he also felt as though he needed to stress just how stupid and careless Aoba had been. Hell, the whole time Kuronuma had been uncharacteristically reckless. Usually the raven was the exact opposite. Maybe it was lack of sleep making his judgement cloud over, maybe it was stress, possibly it was dehydration and hunger, maybe it was a combination of all of those things. Whatever caused this shift, Kida hoped that a good night's rest, the calm environment, a full stomach, and plenty of water would return him to his usual self. The underclassmen was proving to be more than a handful and as much as Masaomi hated to say it, a complete hindrance.

Today had marked him completely as such. The privilege of having free rein when they were allowed outside had been revoked after the incident. That small freedom was gone as was many missed opportunities to possibly escape. It would have been so easy too. Just to disappear into the forest in wolf form and never return. The soldiers and scientists hadn't realized just how easy it was until today when Aoba turned up completely missing.

With a sigh, the taller sat down and pulled his own plate to him, looking up to see if Aoba was staring in his direction. Sure enough, the younger's eyes were completely glued to him. The raven's brown orbs were daggers and the look was so suffocating that Masaomi felt as though he was drowning under such a heavy gaze. Kida tried his hardest to look back at Aoba passively until the teen grew tired of trying and failing to make the blonde drop to his level. When Kuronuma was again focused on his plate and disregarding Kida like before, the older let his mind wander back to the scars on the smaller's back as he brought his chicken to his mouth.

The raven was extremely touchy about them and the story surrounding them. If the smaller had a weakness, this was definitely it. Masaomi felt a shift in the younger teen whenever the topic came up. He seemed more… vulnerable in a way. The teen's emotions and expressions were raw and unfiltered whenever his mind was plagued with memories of his past. Kida hadn't forgotten when the smaller had flinched away from his touch and trembled under his fingers as he washed his back of dirt and grime. The blonde hadn't thought much of it then thinking that he was just surprised at the suddenness of the action, but now the knowledge that it was likely his instinct to flinch away from another's touch made Masaomi feel bile rise at the back of his throat. What had happened? Who had hurt him? Why? Was this the whole extent of the abuse he'd received or was there more hiding just behind the seams?

"Stop looking at me like that.", Kuronuma ground out in frustration as he dropped his fork, the silverware clinking against his ceramic plate.

"Like what?", Kida blinked as his thoughts came to an abrupt stop.

"Like I'm broken or something!"

The blonde hadn't expected that answer and all he could do was blink at Aoba's irritation. Kuronuma's lips pulled downwards into a slight frown, his brows furrowing in a look of a mixture of anger and frustration. The younger teen pushed his plate away from him so that the dish clanked into Kida's and stood, walking to one of the two beds on the other side of the room. Masaomi's first instinct was to get up and follow; try to decipher just what that look meant, but his body wouldn't move. The blonde wanted to know. He wanted to pick at Aoba until he caved in and told him everything, but at the same time he felt as though he was sticking his nose into something that should be left alone.

Instead of demanding any answers, Kida watched Aoba settle in and pull the covers up over his head. The raven shuffled around a bit after that and then promptly turned over onto his side, facing the wall, and went still. Masaomi waited for at least three minutes for something to happen before he forced himself to turn back to his food. Silence returned to the room save for the clink of silverware on ceramic. Kida let his mind go pleasantly blank in this moment of stillness, wanting to forget everything for a bit while things were calm and quiet. The tenseness in his shoulders slowly fell and the frown that had seemed to be permanently etched onto his face drew upwards into a natural straight line. His guarded brown eyes that held a constant loathing and held his inner emotions within dropped their shields and swords and took a well-deserved rest.

Masaomi hadn't felt this at peace since middle school, before war began to tear countries apart, before he'd gotten mixed up in gangs. He felt a pleasant nothingness. He felt nothing, thought nothing, wanted for nothing. It was just him, Aoba, and the box of a room containing them. The world had been reduced to this small sanctuary. If only life was really so simple...

"Hey Masaomi…", the raven called from the bed to the left, startling the blonde a bit at the unexpected sound of his voice. "Do you think I'm weak or something?"

Kida didn't respond, his eyes blank, as a frustrated huff filled the air.

"I can't believe you think that I'm incapable of taking care of myself, that I need to be treated like a child because of a few scars and a dark background. Everyone who's ever laid eyes on them and heard my story has thought that too, but I didn't think you would be too bad given your own dark history."

The blonde listened to every word carefully, this rare moment of vulnerability and openness not being taken for granted as he waited for the smaller to continue.

"I don't need to be treated like I'm broken. I don't need to be fixed. I don't need to be pitied. I just need to be seen as an equal, to be seen as capable of taking care of myself. I'm not saying that I don't need your help, it's just that you're looking down on me, smothering me really."

"Maybe that has more to do with what happened to Saki, but I'm neither a brunette nor a female. Stop trying to fill the void she left in you with something that isn't even vaguely the same. I'm not her, Masaomi. Not even close."

There was a long silence after that as Masaomi's eyes glared at the back of the raven's head. Is that what he thinks it is? That he was trying to fill the empty space that Saki once inhabited? Like he could even try to replace her! That's impossible. Even if he did try, he would definitely not try and replace her with Kuronuma of all people. Kida just wanted to at least be in the presence of another person that he didn't have to be wary around. When the world was coming down around you, you wanted the comfort of another body desperately. Just the feel of sitting side by side, bodies pressed together for either warmth or support, was a blessing in times like this. To have your trust resting only in one single person AND to be connected by your past, it was the only comfort one could have right now.

Now imagine that being suddenly ripped away. Gone. The last thing you had in this world erased from the very face of it. And it could happen in an instant, at any time. Maybe you weren't fast enough, maybe you had been too careless, inattentive, maybe you were led into a trap and you came out the only one still alive, maybe in your escape one of you were just too slow. The possibilities were endless. The best way to prevent anything bad happening to the last thing you have left is to guard it, stay close; never let it out of your sight. One small slip up had a large price to pay and no one would want to take the chance.

" All you've done this whole entire time is thrown yourself straight into danger. Like hell I could just see you as able to take care of yourself on a whim. If I did you'd be dead, two times over to be exact. And to say that I'm trying to use you as a replacement? Get over yourself. ", the blonde said harshly as he pushed his now empty plate away with more force than necessary.

Both plates fell to the floor with a crash, shattering and littering the carpet with small shards of white ceramic. Aoba immediately shot up like an arrow, his head still covered by the comforter, but his eyes and face exposed to look at the heated blonde.

"Are you too busy fucking around and trying to act all high and mighty to realize the situation we're in?", Masaomi spat. "Open your eyes Kuronuma! The world is finally going to shit and there's no way in hell that it will get better. This is the end. Once they start breaking out the bombs, we're done for."

The raven sat with his eyes wide, his glare faltering as he wavered a bit.

"You and you alone are the last person I can trust. The last person that I have from what was the once crazy and notorious city of Ikebukuro. Everyone else is gone and I'll probably never see them again and once you're gone, there's no one. Don't you get that? If you die, I'll be alone. Then when it finally comes down to my last moments on this godforsaken planet, I'll die alone too. So fuck you and your 'I wanna be seen as being able to take care of myself' bullshit. I can't even manage to do that, so I know for fact that you won't be able to either. Another word about this ever again and I swear to god, Kuronuma…"

Aoba watched as the older male's fists tightened and untightened at his sides; his bangs covering his eyes. His body was shaking as if his frame couldn't even contain the amount of rage he was feeling. The blonde looked like he wanted to just go on a full-out rampage; just destroy everything in the room including him, but surprisingly he held back. The raven guessed that he was preparing to at least beat him up a bit if he said something that set the upperclassmen off. Luckily, the smaller had nothing to say. Reality had hit him hard. This was really it. The final stage. They were all running on borrowed time. Any second now could be their last moments on earth. There was no time to be worried about appearances, to be worried about holding back secrets, to even bother with the past or wistful thinking. They needed to escape. They needed to work together and find a way to be able to spend the last weeks, months, years, or however much time they had left, free. Fighting and pointing fingers isn't going to get them any closer to that.

Kuronuma dropped his wide eyes to his lap, thinking about all the times he'd been careless with his life. He'd pretty much tried to throw it away without really meaning to. He had a personal vendetta against the world and he took a rebellious stand instead of a level-headed self-destructive attitude was nothing like his usual self at all. He had spent his whole life making good use of his brain; making good decisions and figuring out the best course of action and here he was completely contradicting his life's actions. Kida was right. If he wasn't around, he'd be dead. Two times over to be exact.

The day he was captured the first time, he'd been careless and painfully so. He had been walking down the street cockily, feeling as though no one would even think of taking him and if they did then they wouldn't be able to manage it. He'd eyed the disasters all around him with an observer's eye, as if he was merely a spectator in the event as he watched desperate hands reach for him, begging for his help as he merely walked onwards. There was no way to help them anyways. Most were trapped under pounds and pounds of rubble and even if he'd managed to somehow get them free, they'd be too damaged to go anywhere. Others were either on fire or bleeding to death and Kuronuma quickly decided that if he couldn't help, then he wouldn't get involved.

Calmly, he'd watched the city fall to the ground before him as he steadily evacuated like it was a school fire drill. There was no point in running. No one hardly ever noticed him anyways. He'd vaguely thought about how tedious life was becoming, how struggling seemed nearly pointless. Even if he lived another day, he'd be struggling just to get by. He'd eventually have to run again and he'd eventually have nowhere to run to. Aoba had spent so much time, so much just trying to survive and now he was all the way back at square one. There was no feeling of hopelessness in that moment though. No he didn't feel that, just irritation.

Just as Aoba reached the center of town, a group of people ran past him, the crowd was to thick that he couldn't do anything but try and stand still as they rushed by. He didn't think about what it was that they were running from until hands suddenly grasped him without warning, Kuronuma routinely pulled his knife and fought as his body had been programmed to do over the years. He had put up a good fight, even managing to cut one of them men's left eye out, but in the end he lost the battle. The teen was greatly annoyed as the men angrily escort him to the cattle car. His body still fought to free itself every step of the way even though he knew he wouldn't be able to escape their strong grasps. This was not how he wanted things to go. Aoba was sure that once he was placed into the cattle car, he would never be be free again. The teen eyed the cattle car ahead of them with a slight feeling of dread and fought again, managing to free himself for a few seconds before he was captured again.

Just when things truly looked bleakr, Kida had come barreling into the fray. His eyes were wild and desperate; filled with the life that he thought surely had left him when Saki had gone. His will to live had been reignited by something and Aoba couldn't even begin to guess what that something was. Kuronuma had been so positive that Masaomi would die within days of him leaving, but apparently Kida had thrived in his absence. The raven had almost felt bad for the blonde then, seeing that they now both were going to be captured. He was sure that the upperclassmen would fall back to the hopeless state Aoba had left him in a week back, but again the world proved him wrong.

Something had proved to be of bigger importance as the squad around them dissipated and took chase after something that he didn't care to even look at. Before Kuronuma could even begin to gather his bearings, his arm was grasped and he was being swiftly led away, out of the city. As he was dragged along, he noticed how deeply the blonde's fingers were digging into his skin. It showed just how determined the older teen was. He was going to fight down to the very last moment and Kuronuma still fought to think of what would have caused this change. Whatever it was, good for Kida. He didn't want to deal with other people anymore. Planting his feet into the ground, he forced them to a stop; his eyes looking up at the teen defiantly as he waited for the blonde to release him. Brown eyes had raked over him for a long moment before the grip on his arm tightened and he was pulled forward once again. The message was clear: 'You're coming with me.'

Kuronuma had been especially irritated at being led around like some child, but now that he thought about it, that was probably what he needed. Being rebellious went hand in hand with being reckless and that was a sure death sentence. Aoba had been reduced to a force that used ability over any sort of reason. Now though, in the present, that danger was gone. The raven's voice of reason had been awakened again and all it had took was Kida's insistent grip tugging him forward once more. Suddenly everything wasn't something to take lightly, something to observe with mild interest. Everything was serious now.

Kida watched the younger male quietly, his eyes hard and unforgiving as the shorter teen was forced to face everything full-on now. He could feel the shift in the air, that vulnerability that he sometimes got a glimpse of, coming out at a constant stream. His ego had been thrown to the side, his walls had come crashing down. Now Masaomi could see him clearly, without anything to block his view. The smaller was completely unsure of himself. His brows were furrowed with the effort of trying to figure himself out as he clenched the comforter in his fingers. The confusion only lasted for a minute or so before a look of calm took over Aoba's features. He'd finally found himself again.

"Masaomi...", the raven spoke up after a long minute or so, looking at Kida who still wore a stern face.

What Aoba had said wasn't a completely sentence or thought for that matter, but that was all he needed to say. He was back.

How the fuck did this happen? How the hell was he overpowered by the scrawny little flea? Oh that's right, he had hesitated. Shizuo felt disgusted with himself for that. He hated the little parasite; just barely withheld any impending punches to the raven's gut whenever he spoke, yet he couldn't do it. The blonde couldn't bring himself to kill Izaya.

He could have done it so easily too. All he had to do was turn Orihara's head at an odd angle and he'd be finished. The effort would be about as much as you would exert if you were bending a paperclip. Yet he couldn't do it. He wasn't a killer. Shizuo refused to live up to the monster title he'd been given, refused to take a life with his inhuman strength. Really, he just didn't have the heart; just didn't have it in him to kill.

The blonde felt himself inwardly cringe at the realization that he would have let Orihara kill him. Even when he snapped back, realized what was happening, he did nothing. He LET the raven choke him until he passed out. A shudder ran through the bartender at the memory of it all. The feeling he had when it was happening was indecipherable. There was a vague feeling of disbelief, shock, fear, and then finally acceptance. The blonde had fought against the last feeling, wanting to rebuke just a little, to put up some sort of resistance by twisting his fingers into the informant's hair. Shizou could have easily ripped Orihara off of him in this moment, but the force would have hurt the smaller male badly or even killed him. Wary of his strength and fearful that he'd have someone's blood on his hands, Heiwajima just simply gave in. He saw no way around it.

As the blonde rocked with the swaying footsteps of what was bound to be a horse, Shizuo felt like his head was just a ball of lead. His body ached with the exhaustion of long sleepless nights having caught up with him. It was as if the whole ordeal of being nearly choked to death had drained him of every last drop of energy he had left. Again Shizuo cursed himself for not reacting, not fighting back. Kazuki was in town right now falling right into death's dark embrace and all he could do was pitifully lay on the back of a horse and wallow in his inability to act.

"It should be easy enough. It's not too hard to snipe two people from the roof of a house, right? He has the advantage.", Izaya murmured to himself as he rode on silently, tugging slightly on the lead rope around the horn of Sukeban's saddle to urge Raiju to keep up with the Palomino's pace.

Shizou's ears perked at the sound of the informant's voice. He'd seen the said sniper rifle that the raven was speaking of at the side of Hizoku's saddle bag, standing menacingly in its special pocket. It had made him a bit nervous, but once he was sure that the brunette wasn't going to use it on them, he didn't mind it.

"What do you think, Shizu-chan? Kazuki should have a good chance of surviving, right?", the reddish brown eyed male asked in a light tone.

Shizuo didn't respond, couldn't respond really. His body was still heavy and even moving his tongue and jaw was too much effort. How did the informant even know he was awake? He must look like a corpse.

"Ah, I keep forgetting that you're asleep. How disappointing. Well, it's good that you're still sleeping since you would just do something stupid.", Izaya sighed in a frustrated huff.

There was silence for a few seconds before Orihara spoke up again.

"So a monster can show compassion… I never knew a monster had the mental capacity for something as trivial as that. You continue to surprise me. Most of my play pieces are boring, one-dimensional, and predictable but you, my dear Shizu-chan, are the wild card. There's no telling what you will do and how you react. It's infuriating as well as interesting."

The blonde listened to the man babble on as he quickly moved to a different topic, stopping the horses under what must be a shady tree or something. The light smoothness of his voice was actually a little soothing once you drowned out the meaning behind his rage-inducing words. Shizuo was then immediately reminded again of sirens leading sailors to their doom with their lulling voices and he silently wondered if Izaya had done the same to Kazuki. Before he could question this theory further, there was a break in the soft flow of words tumbling out of the raven's mouth followed by a curse.

Judging by the awkward shuffling that had been heard and the distressed snort from Sukeban, Orihara was having trouble getting off the horse. Shizuo guessed it was the soreness that came from riding for too long.

"Hey, you can wake up now. I don't think my shoulder can handle anything else today. I already pushed it and it's bleeding like crazy."

At that, brown orbs slowly opened. Izaya was unexpectedly close, his face about twelve inches away from his own. It was a bit of a shock, but the blonde's body was so drained that he didn't even jerk. The informant's eyes had a curious lit to them, watching the bartender take in the world slowly. The sun was high in the sky, telling Shizuo that it was midday and the slight rustle of leaves whenever the wind blew proved his assumption about being under a tree to be right. Still interested in seeing how injured the informant was, Heiwajima's eyes wandered to the shorter male's clothed shoulder. It was hard to see any blood on the black jacket, but one could clearly see a large wet spot covering the shoulder of it.

That's when Shizuo noticed. Orihara was paler than usual, his eyes seemingly tired and his movements a little unsteady. Apparently, the male had lost a little bit too much blood.

"So you've finally returned to the land of the living. Did you have a nice nap?", the informant smirked, his laugh sounding a little too airy.

Shizuo groaned in response as he shut his eyes again, still not wanting to move in the slightest. But he had too. Izaya was clearly not capable of moving him at the moment.

"I thought you were going to kill me.", Heiwajima said in a deep and guttural voice sliding his body slowly to the side, preparing to get off Raiju.

"Why would I do that when you're much more useful to me alive than dead?", Izaya asked as if he were stupid.

The taller male grunted in response. Fair enough. His strength was something Orihara still wanted to exploit. Knowing that it wouldn't hurt, Shizuo simply rolled off the horse, falling to the floor with a thump. As he lay there face down in the dirt, the blonde heard a deep sigh.

"That's not how you get off a horse, Shizu-chan.", the raven said as he grabbed hold of Heiwajima's bartender uniform and dragged him, one-handed, towards the shade of the tree.

The taller male's face was dragged through many sharp stones, but his body was so resistant to pain and damage that it wasn't a problem. Instead, the blonde wondered how much more damage had come to the informant's shoulder when he'd put him back on the horse earlier today. Shizuo definitely didn't want Izaya to die and leave him either entirely alone or with Kazuki. A slow death alone was just as bad as awkwardly tagging along with the sickeningly sweet man who was so caring that it almost made him feel bad for being so mean to people in his lifetime.

"You should have left me there.", the blonde mumbled, nose still pressed into the ground.

"And have you die of heatstroke?", the raven huffed with effort as he sat down heavily a little ways away from Heiwajima. "Like I said before, you're still useful to me so I need you to stay alive."

"Yeah, but what's the point if you just die of bloodloss?"

"Hmmmm, you have a point for once. Scary.", Orihara laughed as he let his head fall back into the bark of the tree. "We need to find somewhere to stay soon or else this really could get infected."

There was a long silence after that as Izaya's breathing became a little harsh. His wound was aggravated and it voiced this fact quite painfully.

"How long are we waiting for him?", the blonde asked, feeling his body become less and less heavy and unresponsive as he watched Orihara pull the pill bottle from his jacket pocket and down four pills eagerly.

"As of now? Dawn. I can't afford to stay here for long. We don't have much water and I need to rest this shoulder or else the damage to the muscles could be permanent.", Izaya responded, as he took off his jacket.

Underneath, the informant had on a white tee shirt. Now Shizuo could clearly see the blood and just how heavily the raven was bleeding. Hissing painfully, the raven then shed himself of the shirt, his shoulder screaming in protest to anymore movements. The bandage currently around Orihara's shoulder was completely soaked through. Wincing in pity, Heiwajima watched as Izaya slowly unwrapped the cloth. It must have been unbelievably painful judging by how the raven's eyes watered as his teeth dug into his bottom lip.

"Shit…", the smaller male muttered as he saw just how red and angry the wound was.

It was swelling up so much that he was sure that soon he wouldn't be able to move it at all. There was no way he could keep pushing it. Even riding wasn't going to be an option.

"We're going to have to stay in this town. There's no way I can ride like this.", Izaya sighed as he got up to retrieve new bandages and a hand towel from Sukeban's saddle bag.

When Orihara came back to sit down again, Shizuo had to look away as the informant began to dab at the blood dripping out of his wound. The strained hisses and whines were enough to make the blonde's skin crawl even without the visual.

"Don't tell me you're squeamish all of the sudden. I'm going to need your help.", Izaya half-teased as he dumped the fresh bandages into Shizuo's lap.

"I-I can't do-"

"You've done it before and you can do it again."

The blonde took a deep breath and picked up the fresh roll of bandages, eyeing the bloody hole in the smaller male's shoulder warily. It looked like it was infected already and not to mention extremely painful. It made his own shoulder hurt just looking at it and he desperately wanted to just look away. Sensing the uncertainty in the taller, Orihara looked back and captured his brown eyes in his own reddish brown ones. Heiwajima was surprised to see that even though the raven's body was trembling, his gaze was completely steady. Through his glinting eyes, Izaya told him to calm down and do what needed to be done. When he was sure his message had been received, he looked forward again.

Shizuo steeled himself after that and dutifully dressed and rewrapped Orihara's shoulder. All the while, Izaya's body began to shake more and more violently as his hisses and breathing increased in volume. Apparently the ibuprofen either hadn't kicked in yet or was entirely useless. Heiwajima cursed as he felt his resolve crumbling. He was growing more and more sickened by the second, but thankfully he held out until the very end. Heiwajima didn't even know he was squeamish until now, and apparently, he was so much so that he would actually throw up if he stared for too long.

Izaya laughed softly through his own agony as he watched Shizuo regurgitate everything in his stomach and then dry heave for a good five minutes afterwards. This was just too ironic.

"Shizu-chan is squeamish then. That's weird considering how many people you've beat to a bloody pulp in your lifetime.", the informant teased as the bartender tried to straighten himself out.

"Shut up.", Shizuo growled as he dragged himself away from the mess he'd made and simply laid on his back under the shade of the oak.

There was a silence after that as Izaya closed his eyes tightly and tried to ignore the insistent throb in his shoulder. How he was going to get back to town was beyond him. There's no way he could get back on Sukeban again, climbing on her back wasn't even within his abilities at the moment. Walking was going to suck, but he had to get back somehow.

"We're leaving." Heiwajima stated out of the blue as he stood up stiffly, back supported heavily by the tree's trunk; his legs shaking heavily from the stream of his own weight, "I'll throw you back up on the horse and we'll go look for a house somewhere."

Orihara opened his eyes with a sigh as he looked at the serious orbs staring at him expectantly.

"You can't even walk, Protozoan. There's no way you'd be able to pick me up in your state nor do I want you to."

"Too bad. I'm putting you on the damn horse anyways.", the blonde stated. "We're going back to town, finding a house, and then I'm looking for Kiyoshi."

Izaya's eyes narrowed a bit as he looked up at Shizuo, his smirk dissipating.

"Unless you want to help him kill the scouts, don't even bother."

"Dammit ,Izaya! We don't HAVE to kill them! Let's just run and shake them off our trail!", Heiwajima insisted.

Orihara felt his irritation growing by the second. There was no other way to go about it! The raven had thought long about solutions that didn't involve spilt blood, but there was no way to do that without being eventually captured. If they took care of the scouts now, they possibly wouldn't have to deal with the Defense later on.

"We have to. I can't go anywhere.", Izaya explained. " If we take care of these two now, then we won't have to fight off a whole squad later. Just think of it this way: Would you rather kill two people or six, possibly twelve if it's a big squad?"

That shut the blonde up for a moment as the taller male thought about it for a few seconds, but that silence didn't last long as he shook his head clear of, what the raven assumed, was common sense.

"But I can't just let Kiyoshi die! Two against one is a suicide mission!", the bartender yelled frustratedly.

"Then help him.", the informant said flatly, his eyes serious and his lips not even in a ghost of a smirk.

Whatever words Heiwajima was going to say after that, caught in his throat as his eyes widened with realization at what was said. Shizuo's body shuddered a bit, before he pulled himself back from whatever he was envisioning.

"Why can't YOU help him?", the bartender grumbled, his eyes on the ground.

"I'm injured and even if I wasn't, I wouldn't help. I love humans too much to take their lives with my own hand.", Izaya said with his smirk returning.

Shizuo decided to just ignore everything past 'I'm injured.' to save himself the unnecessary anger and thought about what he was going to do. If he stopped Kazuki then chances are that they'd have to kill more people later. If he let the brunette be, then his chances of survival were slim and they'd still have to deal with a squad coming after them. He could probably take out one of the scouts easily, but if he wasn't fast enough to kill the second, he was finished. The only way to get a happy ending in all of this, was for the bartender to help slaughter the two scouts. The blonde was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Orihara grabbing his shirt and jacket and getting to his feet. The informant had had enough of the whole situation at hand and was contemplating just striking out on his own and finding a bunker to hide out in again until the danger passed. Even though it was extremely lonely, Izaya survived more effectively while on his own. I mean, if he hadn't have paired up with Kida, he wouldn't currently have a hole in his shoulder. This whole 'group' thing was turning out to be a death sentence.

The informant walked a little unsteadily towards Sukeban, as said horse watched him with curious eyes. As if she realized that the man was struggling, the palomino walked forward and met him halfway. Izaya gave the mare a scratch between the ears in appreciation as he grabbed a black t-shirt from the horse's saddle bag, throwing his bloodied white shirt and black jacket in afterwards. The raven then quickly slipped on the fresh t-shirt and slung an arm around Sukeban's neck to undo Raiju's lead rope from her saddlehorn.

"Come on Suke-chan.", the informant murmured as he shakily pushed off of her to stand on his own. "We have to go find somewhere to hide out."

Izaya was slightly hoping that Shizou wouldn't try to follow him, slightly hoping that they could just part ways like this, but of course Shizuo finally realized that he was leaving and began to follow. The blonde whistled to Raiju to get the stallion to come as he walked to catch up with Orihara. It wasn't hard considering that Izaya was moving at a snail's pace. As if he really could WALK all the way back. When he was caught up with the pair, the blonde reached out and grabbed hold of the mare's bridle to stop her. The palomino's annoyed, shrill neigh was what alerted the raven that the horse wasn't following him anymore. Reddish-brown eyes looked back with an unamused look, demanding an explanation.

"Walking is going to take you years, let me put you on the horse.", Shizuo said as Izaya looked indignant.

"No.", the informant answered without missing a beat before continuing to walk onwards.

"We seriously don't have time for this, flea.", Heiwajima growled. "If you walk, we won't be able to check out even three houses let alone get to town before sundown."

Orihara paused for a long moment, staring out towards the direction of the town, before his shoulders sagged. They were so far out that the buildings of said town weren't even in sight. Walking would take them ages especially since both of them weren't so steady on their feet right now. Shizuo was at least improving by the minute, but Izaya knew that for himself he'd have to take it easy for a few days before he saw any improvement.

"Fine.", the informant sighed as he turned towards the taller man, waiting to be lifted up.

Apparently the blonde was not expecting him to give in so easily because he just dumbly blinked at the smaller for a few long moments.

"Well? Are you going to do it or not?", Orihara asked impatiently.

"Oh... Y-yeah."

Heiwajima immediately went to pick the raven up by hooking his hands under the man's armpits and was met with a squeak of pain as he lifted.

"Wait! Wait! Put me down!", Izaya screeched as Shizuo dropped him as if he'd been burned.

The bartender was confused and even a little scared for a moment until he remembered.

"Shit, your shoulder!", Heiwajima cursed as he watched the informant's eyes water while he clutched his shoulder.

"You can't pick me up that way, you ape!", he hissed as he sent a pained glare in the taller male's direction.

The bartender stood there with a stumped look on his face as Orihara nursed his pride after the girly sounds he had imitted only a few moments earlier.

"How do I pick you up then?"

Izaya clicked his tongue at that as he felt his shoulder begin to throb painfully again.

"I honestly don't care how you do it as long as you don't hurt me anymore."

Shizuo stood still for a few moments longer as he thought of what to do. There was no way he was going to pick the informant up bridal style, but the other option he had come up with wasn't so appealing either.

"Quickly, Shizuo."

"I know, alright!", the blonde growled as he sucked it up and took a step closer to the raven.

Without a word he grasped Izaya's uninjured shoulder and pushed him until he was facing away from him and looking at Sukeban. Orihara looked back at him questioningly for a moment, but didn't comment as he watched the blonde prepare himself. Swallowing, Heiwajima reached forward to wrap his hands around Orihara's waist, but hesitated again.

"...Can I?", the bartender asked lowly, making the informant scoff.

"Yes, Shizuo.", Orihara said rolling his eyes as he finally felt the pressure of the taller male's rough hands on his hips.

The thought that the blonde could easily break them if he so wanted to made the raven a little uneasy, but he forced it down as he let himself be lifted easily onto Sukeban's back.

"There. Was that so hard, Shizu-chan?", the informant smirked as he looked at the bartender's weird expression of distaste and disgust mixed into one.

The male mumbled something incoherent as he walked over to Raiju and took the lead rope off of his bridle and attached it to his horn instead. He then walked back to the palomino and attached the other end of the lead to her bridle so that Izaya wouldn't have to steer. Orihara watched amused as the male walked back to the coal black stallion and got up onto the horse's back with much difficulty. It took a total of five times to finally get seated and in one of those trails, Raiju had decided he'd had enough and tried to walk off.

"Your laugh is annoying! Shut up already!", Heiwajima yelled at Izaya when his bouts of laughter refused to cease.

"Mean, Shizu-chan~!", the informant said in a singsong voice as Shizuo started Raiju off at a trot.

Kida was woken up five hours later by the sound of the door unlocking and then opening. Sitting up slowly and feeling like his space was being invaded in a way, he looked to see who it was. Blue eyes locked with his immediately and then down to the mess on the floor beside the table. Then those same piercing orbs then looked over to Aoba's bed and saw that the younger teen was sound asleep. Egor sighed deeply and walked over to pick up the shattered plates. Masaomi just sat where he was, watching the man's movements as he swiftly cleaned up the mess and dumped the waste into the garbage can. He suspected that the man had been asked to grab the plates from the room. With that done, the man turned to leave but paused for a moment.

"Want to come?", the assassin asked as he opened the door wide in invitation.

Masaomi's eyes immediately drifted over to Kuronuma's sleeping form as he contemplated the offer. The teen would definitely not appreciate waking up to an empty room, but he would appreciate being woken up a lot less.

"He will be fine, Volk. There is nowhere for him to run off to in here. No one will come to take him away either.", the Russian man said as he turned and walked out, waiting for Kida to follow.

The blonde looked at Aoba for a few moments longer before he looked back to Egor.

"Can you guarantee that?", Kida asked the man with hard brown eyes.

"Yes. Are you coming or not?", the assassin responded.

Masaomi sighed and got up to follow the Russian out of the door. Once he'd walked out, the teen watched as the man took out a key and locked the door behind them. The blonde waited patiently for the man to repocket the key and followed silently once he began to lead the way to the stairs instead of the elevators. Kida was confused at that, but didn't question it too much as the man in front of him walked down the stairs quickly.

"So where are we going?", Masaomi finally asked as they reached the ground floor of the facility.

"Hunting.", the man answered shortly.

"For?"

"The wild pig that chased the pipsqueak. Its been causing trouble for a few weeks now and I was told to get rid of it."

Before the smaller teen could respond to that, the scientist who spoke fast and angry russian, heatedly called to Egor from down the hall. The man's face was bright red as he stiffly walked over to the tall man beside the blonde. The grey-haired man spilled out a few sentences to the assassin, spit flying from his mouth as he did so while he stuck his fat finger in both Egor and Masaomi's faces. Kida quickly became annoyed while the Russian beside him kept his cool. When the scientist had stopped talking, Egor finally spoke. The man's voice was calm, smooth, and even as he easily talked down the situation. At the end of his explanation, the scientist looked down at Kida and scoffed before turning away with an irked look on his face.

"What did he say?", the teen asked once they were allowed out of the front door.

"He asked what I was doing taking you outside without permission. He said that we couldn't trust you outside after today, but I said that while looking for the pipsqueak you didn't run off with him once we found him and that I needed your nose to find the pig anyways.", the dirty blonde explained as he walked over to the garage at the side of the facility building.

Taking out another key, the man unlocked the padlock that was keeping the garage door down and pulled it up. He walked in and rummaged around a bit before he reemerged with a rifle and bullets. Kida felt himself breakout in a cold sweat at the sight of it as he shifted from foot to foot.

"If you were going to kill me, at least you could have told me so I could've said my goodbyes…", the blonde said half-jokingly.

Egor raised a brow at this, genuinely confused.

"If I was going to kill you I would have done it while we were still in the room.", the man stated before he walked towards the main gate.

Masaomi felt relief wash over him as he followed the man again.

"So why did you really decide to take me?", Kida asked when they were a few yards out into the treeline.

"You are not as dense as I thought, Volk.", the Russian man said as he bent down to inspect some tracks. "I brought you out here to speak with you."

Kida watched as the man looked at the shape of the footprints carefully before getting up and abandoning them altogether. They weren't the tracks they were looking for.

"Well, you have my attention then.", Masaomi answered finally as the man walked deeper into the forest.

The Russian man hummed as he climbed up a small incline of boulders, Kida stumbling a bit as he followed after him.

"I'm in charge of training you and the pipsqueak. We'll be starting next week.", Egor answered slowly, his mind halfly somewhere else as he kept his eyes on the ground to look for any lead to the wild pig's whereabouts.

"Why couldn't you just tell me that back in the room?", the teen sighed as he looked around for tracks too.

"The pipsqueak was sleeping.", the assassin shrugged.

I am concerned about the effectiveness of having you two work together. You do not usually butt heads but when you do, it results in violence. I am worried that if I give you the skills to take life, you might wind up accidentally killing one another.", the Russian man explained as he picked up a rock and threw it into some underbrush only to cause scared birds to fly up into the safety of the trees.

"We won't kill each other. We've already sorted out our problem and what you saw was just the aftermath.", Kida huffed as his eyes wandered up to the foliage up above them, his attention drawn to the treetops by the offended calls of the birds.

"Won't happen? I wonder about that.", the Russian man murmured softly as he stuck an arm out to stop the blonde in his tracks.

Masaomi's eyes looked past the assassin's arm and saw a wild pig digging around for roots about 50 yards out and upwind from them. It wasn't huge, but it was an admirable size. Egor slowly moved his arm away from the teen and around his back to grab his rifle. With confident movements the man easily lined up the shot and prepared to pull the trigger.

"Do you think you could lure the pig closer?", the assassin suddenly asked Kida, eyes and barrel of the rifle still pointed at the beast still obliviously eating roots.

"You want me to take off my clothes, shift, and then throw myself into danger for no good reason?", the teen murmured back immediately.

"Your training will greatly consist of hunting or herding game. We'll start easy and then work up to smarter, more complicated game later on. I want to gauge your abilities while I have an open chance to. You do not have to if you are not feeling a hundred percent."

"I don't think I can handle something that big yet…", Masaomi said uncertainly as he eyed the pig with wary eyes.

The Russian man nodded slowly and pulled the trigger without warning, making Kida jump and let out a yelp. The beast fell immediately from a clean shot through the head. Masaomi was a little shocked at the scene, but snapped back once he realized that the older male was already leaving.

"Aren't you going to make sure it's dead?", the blonde asked as he followed after the assassin, surprised that he didn't go over and observe it like Varona would have done.

"It was shot through the head. It died instantly.", the man said back as he continued onwards.

"But what if it somehow survived?", Kida argued.

"It would die either way whether it lived for a few seconds or a few minutes longer.", the Russian man said, shooting the argument down immediately.

The teen was silent after that and let himself be escorted back to his room. When the door was shut and locked behind him once again, the blonde noticed that Aoba was still sleeping peacefully in bed where Masaomi had left him. What he did find out of place was two new plates of food sitting out, this time steak and a mixture of vegetables. Both plates had remained completely untouched, telling Kida that the smaller male had either not heard anyone come in or just simply chose not to eat. Both of those reasons made him a little worried, but he quickly decided that it was probably nothing but the smaller just being exhausted.

Sitting down at the table, Masaomi silently picked up his fork and knife and began to cut up his steak. He wasn't all that hungry and knew that he shouldn't eat if he wasn't up to it, but there was nothing else to do but that at the moment. As the blonde began to eat silently, his eyes wandered out the small window between he and Aoba's beds. The sun was setting now and the sky was glowing with a mixture of red, orange, pink, and purple as the sun sunk behind the mountains. Kida's eyes scanned the forest from his high standpoint and noted that the timber was alive with movement. Squirrels climbed trees to get back to their nests, raccoons began to wander about, crickets began to chirp, and owls and bats began to take flight in search of food. For some animals, their day was just beginning while for others it was ending.

Masaomi sighed as he found himself longing for a television set. In the cities and towns that weren't ransacked, they still had that luxury. In those places, life was continuing on as normal. The kids went to school and the adults went to work. The bustle of the city still played in the background and the threat of war seemed like a distant rumble. Most of them would see headlines in the news of disasters and talk about it for a day or two and then the incident would be forgotten. They had other things to worry about. They worried about passing their classes, paying the bills, what they were having for dinner, if the girl down the street liked them or not, or what they wanted for their birthdays. Kida found himself wishing he'd been in one of the cities that got to continue to live like this. He would give his left hand to be able to go back to that life.

Masaomi found himself feeling a little homesick in that moment as he thought of how his life used to be. He'd been mixed up with the wrong crowd back then, getting himself into situations a kid shouldn't even bother with. The drama surrounding his life at that time seemed laughable compared to now, but nonetheless he had still been on the rougher side of things. The blonde then wondered what had happened to Izaya and Shizuo. He weirdly hoped that Orihara had survived the chase and made it safely to Heiwajima. Even though he'd most likely never see the men again, he hoped that they were alive and well somewhere out there. If only he had a phone so he could call the informant.

He knew the man's number by heart and there was no doubt in his mind that Izaya still had his phone with him. It was as easy as pressing eleven buttons and then pressing dial. Kida cursed himself softly at not having thought to grab his phone when he ran out of Kadota's house when the first bombs had begun to go off. Shaking all his thoughts from his mind before he got too caught up in the past, the blonde focused on his food again.

"Is there anyone that you miss from Ikebukuro, Aoba? Do you even make any connections to people strongly enough to?", Kida murmured as he watched the rising and falling of Kuronuma's frame.

"I doubt it. Sometimes I wish I was more like you. Having nothing to tie you back must be nice.", Masaomi continued softly. "I wonder where a lot of the people I knew have ended up and what they're doing while you don't give it a second thought. You can entirely focus on moving forward."

Kuronuma shifted and curled into himself a bit as he began to snore so softly that it almost sounded like the teen was purring. That was a little ironic considering that he was now part canine. Kida sighed at that fact before he got up and slowly returned to his own bed. He still felt exhausted and he wasn't going to deny his body of any rest of he didn't have to.

-Prologue For Next Chapter-

"What about this one?", Shizuo asked as the walked their horses past a medium sized house nearly at the edge of town.

"It's not far enough away yet. Keep going.", Izaya stated as the swelling in his shoulder began to dissipate a bit with the medicine finally coming into effect.

Heiwajima growled in frustration as he pulled Raiju to a stop.

"This is the fifteenth house already, Flea! It's almost at the edge of town and it's more secluded than all the other ones. What more could you ask for? The sun is going down and I want to just get this over with so I can go find Kiyoshi!"

The Informant simply rolled his eyes at the outburst.

"Well sorry for wanting to be safe rather than sorry.", the shorter male said. "Come on. Next house."

"No. This is where I'm dropping you off."

"If you leave me here, I won't stay.", Izaya replied as he looked around for a house more to his liking.

"Leave and I'll break your legs and drag you back.", Shizuo replied as he hopped off the coal black stallion. "You're NOT gonna leave me alone with Kiyoshi."

"So did you decide what you're going to do?", Orihara asked as Heiwajima quickly helped him down and went to tie the horses' leads to the porch.

The blonde didn't respond for so long that the raven thought he wasn't going to answer. The informant watched silently as Shizuo kicked the front door to the house open and walked inside.

"No.", the blonde finally answered as the raven shut the front door behind them.

"Ah, so it seems you're finally seeing some reason then.", Izaya smirked as he took the lead.

Shizuo only growled in response as he followed closely behind the informant. The house was obviously empty, if the 'For Sale' sign in the front yard wasn't anything to go by, but Orihara did a quick check of the place anyways. Shizuo prayed that no one would be here so he could finally go look for Kazuki and to his absolute relief, every room, crook, and cranny turned out to be void of human life.

"It's weird that there's still furniture in here...", Izaya commented as he walked back to the master bedroom.

Heiwajima didn't respond as he watched Orihara inspect the king sized bed at the back of the room, for what the blonde assumed was cleanliness. The informant picked up each of the pillows and examined them closely, before pulling back the sheets of the bed and looking at that too. Seemingly pleased with what he saw, the raven sighed and plopped down onto the mattress; feet dangling off.

"Shizu-chan?", the informant asked as he kicked off his shoes. "Can you go grab my stuff from Sukeban's saddlebag?"

"Why can't you do it?", the blonde asked, annoyed as he watched the shorter male climb under the covers.

"I'm tired and my shoulder hurts.", Izaya whined like a child; his eyes closing pointedly.

The bartender still in the doorway sighed deeply, but turned to go get his things. Upon walking out the front door, he was met with a whiny and a long, black neck reaching out for him. Shizuo was little more than baffled because Raiju never acted this way.

"Oh, hey.", the bartender said awkwardly as he walked down the porch steps.

As if in response, the coal stallion snorted and pawed at the ground, pulling against his rope in clear frustration. Heiwajima was genuinely confused now as Sukeban began to act up as well, bouncing from foot to foot in impatience. The mare glued her eyes to Shizuo's and snorted, beckoning him closer. It took a few more long seconds for the blonde to put two and two together.

"Oh right, you guys haven't eaten all day.", the blonde said as he walked up to the starved horses. "I'll take off your saddles and then I'll turn you two loose."

Shizuo easily unbridled the two and took off their saddles, all the while looking up at the quickly darkening sky nervously. He didn't have time for this, but if he still wanted transportation he had to take the time to get this out of the way. As the pair promptly wandered off after being set free, Heiwajima worried that they'd never come back for a moment before he pushed it to the back of his mind. They were more than likely trained to stay in the general area considering that the horses were used for war. Without giving it another thought, the bartender walked back inside.

When Heiwajima returned to the room, Orihara was already sound asleep.

'Good.', Shizuo thought as he threw the male's stuff to the side. 'Now I know that he's not going anywhere.'

With that said and done, the blonde left. It was dark by now. The sun was just peaking over the hilltops and the night was alive with the sound of crickets' chirping. He had no idea where to even begin to look, but he did know that Kazuki was on a roof. It was a start, but really not much to go off. The town was surprisingly big. Without planning out any sort of route or plan, Heiwajima just stepped off the porch and began to search.


	9. Command Me To Be Well

"Breathe. That's the first step.", Kiro said as he walked behind Kazuki and followed the younger male's gaze to a sickeningly realistic-looking human dummy with a target on it about eight hundred yards out.

Kiyoshi's hands were shaking; his heart thudding in his chest as he felt beads of sweat drip down his face. His shoulders ached from having stood here on this same ledge for about two hours now. Every bullet he'd shot so far had completely missed its mark, but Kiro still kept his patience.

" Relax.", his brother murmured steadily, resting two big palms on the smaller's broad shoulders.

Kiyoshi let his shoulders drop, his knotted muscles loosening immediately as he did so. His arms shook less violently, but shook nonetheless.

"It's just a target. No matter what shape it is; whether it's living or not; a target is a target. An obstacle.", the heavier set man said as he looked away from the target and circled his brother until he was standing in front of him; his blue eyes staring straight into Kazuki's evergreen ones.

"It doesn't matter if it has flesh and bones. An animal; a human. If you need to; if you're ordered to, then shoot."

With that, the blue-eyed male stepped away and out of the line of fire. His presence seemed to disappear in that moment. It was now just Kiyoshi, the rifle, and the 'man' standing alone in a field down below. He knew that the 'man' was in fact a dummy, but knowing that one day it would be replaced with the real deal unsettled him greatly.

"Focus only on your task and complete it without delay. Any personal feelings or any outside thoughts are unnecessary.", his brother said from far to his right as if he could hear the younger man's thoughts clearly.

Kazuki finally took a deep breath. In and out slowly as the air around him changed.

"Do it."

'Don't.'

A part of him still hated this. Hated the thought of taking life that wasn't his to take, but his brother commanded it. Kiyoshi's eyes focused as he felt the weight of the metal in his hands grow even heavier, the cold of the trigger under his finger.

"Shoot."

'You don't want to do this.'

He had to. He had no choice. When his brother asked something of him, he wasn't let alone until he carried out the task.

'Just walk away.'

"You have the skill. All you have to do is use it. The world doesn't have room for the weak."

'This isn't you.'

" I know.", the brunette murmured both to himself and to his brother, before he finally pulled the trigger back and a loud boom filled the air.

The hilt knocked back into Kiyoshi's shoulder and his ears rung a bit, but his eyes followed the shot through to the end. He watched as the dummy blew back from the force of the bullet and fell to the ground. Kazuki felt sick. He couldn't do this anymore. He wanted to go back home, but there was no home to return to.

"See?", Kiro said slapping a hand on Kazuki's back, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Nothing to it. Like water off a duck's back. A target is a target. Remember that and you can shoot anything down."

The brunette watched his brother walk away after that, leaving him to stand alone on the ledge. He was just like them. They didn't care what they had to do, who they had to kill; they carried out their missions without fail. No matter the cost, no matter what they had to do; they carried it through without hesitation, without question. Kiyoshi knew that this wasn't something he could do. The brunette wasn't a mindless drone; a machine that simply took orders and executed them.

"A target is a target, huh?"

That phrase still rang through Kiyoshi's head as he stood on the roof of the tallest building he could find in this town. It was Kiro's number one phrase and it never served to be wrong. The world really didn't have any room for the weak. It was a dog eat dog world and even more so now. The brunette had yet to take another person's life. He detested the thought deeply, but he had to do it. Shizuo and Izaya were depending on him seeing this through. Kiro had conditioned him for this. He could do it. He had all the skills; all he had to do was use them.

The brunette breathed in and sighed deeply. He looked out to the steadily darkening horizon and wondered if Kiro had died during the raid or not. Honestly, Kiyoshi didn't care much whether he was alive or not at this point. His real brother had died years ago and he'd already had plenty of time to mourn his death. He was only curious and morbidly so. Kazuki was almost positive now that Izaya knew, but Orihara was the type to withhold information if he thought it would get him into any trouble.

Before he could think of a way to ask the informant when he got back, a movement from below caught his eye. The figure below was obviously human, but wasn't on horseback or even coming in the direction he'd thought the scouts would come in. Raising his rifle anyway, the brunette lined up the shot and looked through the scope. A head of blonde hair, an out of place bartender outfit, and a deep scowl. It didn't take the evergreen eyed soldier long to recognize the man as Heiwajima and to lower his guard.

"So he figured it out, huh?", Kazuki sighed as he wondered where Izaya had gone and if he was hurt.

With a shake of his head, Kiyoshi brought his fingers to his mouth and gave three sharp whistles, earning Shizuo's attention. The brunette then motioned for the man to come on up as he looked left and right to make sure that the bartender wasn't in any danger of getting shot. The blonde man below hesitated for a few long moments before he slowly and unsurely made his way towards the shop under the roof. Kazuki waited patiently, his body turned towards the door and his head angled to the north. It wasn't long until he heard the heavy and unrushed footsteps of the other man making his way up the stairs as he vaguely wondered what it would take to get the shorter man to turn back. As soon as the metal door creaked open, he spoke out.

"What are you doing out here?", Kazuki asked as soon as the blonde had walked through. "Go back to Orihara."

Shizuo frowned a bit and then continued to walk onto the roof, defiance filling his every feature.

"No."

"What do you mean, 'No'?", the brunette asked walking up to the shorter male, sizing him up in an attempt to intimidate him into listening.

"It means 'No, I'm not going back.' Izaya might be okay with sending you to your death, but I'm not.", Heiwajima said simply as he looked out to in the direction that Orihara had seen the scouts coming from; dismissing Kiyoshi's attempt at asserting dominance over him.

Shizuo was used to people trying to scare and intimidate him, it wasn't anything new but it was no less annoying than the last time. The blonde wondered each and every time when everyone would learn not to mess with someone who could send them hurling away with so much as a flick to the forehead. As irritating as it was to be met with this sort of situation again, Heiwajima kept his anger in check only because of the fact that Kiyoshi was putting up a front. Threatening dispositions were definitely not the brunette's forte; if the man's slightly averted gaze was anything to go by.

The taller brunette was silent for a long moment as he watched Shizuo sidestep him and walk over to the ledge of the roof. Frustration was filling him to his core. He couldn't figure out if Shizuo was some sort of punk or just completely oblivious. With tension already running high on Kazuki, the added stress of having to look out for the blonde as well was more than taxing. Inexperience was a death sentence in this kind of situation, but maybe the blonde wasn't here to help. Izaya had very clearly stated that he had to keep their plan a secret because the blonde hated violence and would probably come to put an end to what he was going to do if he so much as breathed a word. Orihara had been pretty confident that he could manage to effectively keep the blonde away by any means necessary, so Kiyoshi hadn't been given any instruction on what to do if the man suddenly showed up out of the blue.

"Are you here to stop me then?", Kazuki asked cautiously as he walked towards the shorter man.

Heiwajima's brows furrowed as his eyes stayed glued to the horizon.

"...No…"

"So are you planning on helping me then?"

There was a long pause as a gust of bitter, icy cold wind picked up and buffeted through their clothes, chilling them to the point where they shuddered and goosebumps spread on their skin.

"I don't know…"

Kazuki sighed tiredly as he ran a hand through his now unruly reddish brown hair.

"Look, this has to be done. Trust me when I say that I wish it didn't.", Kiyoshi explained as he took a few steps to stand side by side with Shizuo.

"There has to be another way. Do we really have to go this far?"

"We have no money to bribe them with, nor will our bodies suffice if you're hoping that could work too."

"You're disgusting!", Shizuo hissed, making a face. "I'm just saying that maybe we could talk to them."

"And you think they'll let us get close enough to them? They've been given the order to shoot if they have the chance."

The bartender drew silent again as his scowl deepened. Stubbornly, he turned his head back out to the landscape.

"There has to be another way."

Kiyoshi closed his eyes for a long moment and let his head fall back in exasperation. There was no winning with this guy.

"Just go back to Orihara.", the evergreen eyed male said slowly. "You don't like violence, right? Just leave so you don't have to see anything."

Heiwajima tore his gaze from the north and stared deeply into the taller man's eyes. From this close up, Kazuki could see just how much they differed in height. The top of the blond's head reached just to the bridge of the brunette's nose, which was weird since it truly felt as though Shizuo was taller than him. Kiyoshi then realized just how overpowering the other man's presence was. He could practically sense the man's strength in the air when he walked by and being right next to the destructive force of nature was like standing next to a raging typhoon.

"And leave you here to possibly die? Fat chance. I don't hide behind people like Izaya does."

Kiyoshi simply nodded at that and broke the eye contact they had; the heat of it proving to be too much for him. The shorter man was passionate about what he thought was the right thing to do and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

It was nearly pitch black now. A pale full moon was rising, offering its light as the creatures of the night began to awaken.

"Where's Izaya anyways? You didn't leave him lying face down in a ditch, did you?", Kazuki finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

"No. His shoulder got so bad that we had to go back to town and find a house. He can't go anywhere for a while.", Heiwajima explained as he thought back to what Izaya had said about leaving and prayed that the male wouldn't really go looking for a different house.

"Did you make sure to let the horses off their ropes? They need to eat.", Kiyoshi said as he looked down at Shizuo seriously.

"Yeah. I was worried that they'd run off though.", Heiwajima responded.

"They won't. How bad is Orihara's shoulder? How long do you think we'll have to stay?"

"Bad. Really bad. We won't be moving for weeks. He can't ride."

Kazuki sighed deeply as he brought a hand to his face. Shizuo watched the man silently as the evergreen eyed male dragged his hand down his handsome features.

"That might be a problem…", the brunette said. "One thing at a time though. We won't worry about that right now."

Heiwajima simply nodded to that and another comfortable silence fell between the two. The bartender found that being alone with the taller male wasn't as bad as he thought. When the brunette was t trying to challenge him, being alone with Kiyoshi was WAY better on a million of levels than being with the flea, even though Shizuo hardly had the energy to be mad at the informant all the time like he used to be. With so much violence around as it was, Heiwajima had put in the extra effort to stay calm. It was as if the chaos had placated him, as if his instincts were sated with all the destruction happening around him without having to actually take part in it. Still Izaya constantly rubbed him the wrong way, just being around him was enough to keep him eternally irritated and grumpy. How Kazuki could stand to be in his presence and still keep his good-natured attitude up was beyond him.

"Can I ask you a question?", Shizuo asked suddenly, immediately earning Kiyoshi's attention.

"Go ahead.", Kazuki smiled brightly, finally dropping the intimidation facade and making Shizuo actually have to look away.

Despite the courage he'd had before, Kiyoshi still made him a little uneasy. He didn't know how to react to kindness, especially from someone he hardly knew. Most people feared him or wanted to beat him up, so he wasn't used to having smiles thrown his way for seemingly no reason.

"Why did you decide to trust the Flea?"

"The flea?", Kiyoshi asked confused for a moment.

"Izaya.", Shizuo clarified.

Kazuki hummed as he looked up at the sky for a long moment.

"Can I ask you a question, Heiwajima?", Kiyoshi asked suddenly.

"Shoot."

"Have you ever looked at someone for the first time and just felt completely captivated?"

Shizuo thought hard about the answer to that, even though he knew the answer was on the tip of his tongue.

"No."

"Well, Orihara's… how do I put it, magnetic in a way. Charismatic, you know? You can't help but want to be near him."

"...Magnetic? He repels people better than he attracts them.", Heiwajima said, his lips pulling into a sour frown.

"Then you must not be effected by him.", Kiyoshi smiled softly as he watched Shizuo avert his eyes again.

"I guess not.", Shizuo grunted as he shuddered at the cold biting into his skin.

Soon this bartender outfit wasn't going to be enough for the chill of night.

Kiyoshi hummed as he shuddered a bit too, his baritone voice vibrating in Heiwajima's ears.

"We'll have to find warmer clothes soon.", the man said simply.

Hours and hours ticked by and still no sign of anyone approaching. The night was still young, but there should have been some movement out there already. Kazuki began to get worried that they were onto them and he cursed himself for not listening in on their conversations from his walkie-talkie more during his wait. It was entirely possible that they were called back and that HQ had denied Lieutenant Momoru his request in pursuing him, but they couldn't afford to just let their guard down.

The brunette didn't tear his gaze from the horizon even when he heard Shizuo shift in his spot on the ground and walk to stand beside him again. The presence of the stronger man was reassuring, but it still offered no solace to his growing anxiety at what he was planning to do when and if the scouts showed up.

"We shouldn't leave Izaya alone for too long.", Heiwajima grunted out as he looked out below them one more time.

Kiyoshi sighed deeply, his anxiety growing at the thought of the raven defenseless and alone. There was no way Shizuo would agree to go back alone and also no way in hell that Kazuki would leave the task of getting rid of the scouts to the blonde.

"That's definitely a dilemma.", the brunette said softly as the debt collector looked at him expectantly.

What should he do? Go back or stay here and wait for God knows how long? The brunette was at loss. Before he could get too deep into what he should do though, a flicker of movement coming from the north caught his eye.

"Kiyosh-"

"Shh! Get down!", the taller man hissed, pulling the bartender down to crouch with him.

Confused and irritated, Shizuo almost asked what the hell his problem was until he remembered the situation and followed the other man's gaze out to the silhouette of a slowly moving object coming towards them, getting bigger and bigger as it drew ever closer. It was hardly a dot, but it was pretty clear what it was as the seconds ticked by. Kiyoshi felt the blonde tense up next to him as he himself broke out into a cold sweat. He felt the strength leave his arms as the weight of the rifle became increasingly heavy, so much so that it was hard to lift the cold metal contraption. Everything was in slow motion at this point and Kazuki felt as though his senses had heightened considerably. His gaze was locked on the float-gaited movement of the horse and its hardly jostling rider atop it. Though it was dark, the rising full moon at the rider's back highlighted everything in striking clarity. The sweat on the brunette's forehead began to bead and slowly streak down his cheeks as he lifted the barrel of the rifle and looked through the scope. At first, to the ex-soldiers dismay, it seemed as though the scout was alone, but sure enough, another silhouette appeared from over the hill; steadily following after the first. Both scouts were here and no one was following them. They were alone and like Kazuki had predicted, they were planning on riding straight through the small town to pick up their trail again.

'Breathe.', a strong and deep voice murmured steadily in the brunette's ear.

Kiyoshi drew in a long breath and slowly let it back out again. His body was tense, he could feel his muscles knotting and shaking due to the strain. The shot was no longer lined up, but instead jerking left and right so much that the rifle itself made rattling noises.

'Relax.', the voice murmured to him again as he felt familiar hands begin to ghost along his shoulders.

Kiyoshi let his shoulders drop and his back muscles uncoil. The shot was perfectly lined up now and the time to finally shoot was steadily coming closer like the elegant and floating footsteps of the holsteiner horses drawing ever closer. Something in Kazuki lurched a bit at that as he felt nausea crawl up his throat. This wasn't a drill in some desert training camp, this was real. The target was no longer a still dummy sitting in some open clearing; the target was now a human being with flesh and bones and the right to live another day. Who was he to decide something so crucial as to when a life would cease to go on? That was the job of a god, or the gods, or just simply fate. Kiyoshi wasn't sure which but it didn't matter; it still wasn't his place to decide.

Like a serpent of temptation and false reason, the voice was back again, murmuring things in his ear and leading him down the path that was against his morals.

'It's just a target. No matter what shape it is; whether it's living or not; a target is a target. An obstacle.'

This wasn't just a target they were talking about here, this was another human being. A human being that probably had people who loved and cared about them, lots of potential to offer the world… But then again, when did they ever give a damn about that when they shot down the very civilians that they had sworn to protect with their very lives? When did they stop to think about morals when they mercilessly slit the throats of elders, cripples, and the mentally disabled? These 'humans', if one could even call them one anymore; were murderers; military dogs that only cared about fulfilling orders and raising their status. Among them all were thieves, rapists, and people who could do the unthinkable and not even bat an eye. What did these people know of showing empathy? Compassion?

How could a divine being allow them to exist? How could they sit back and watch the world fall into war and the innocent fall victim to the mistakes of older generations? Was there even such thing as a divine being? If there was then they must have surely turned their back on them. Maybe they found them all repulsive and wanted to see them all destroyed; wanted them to cease to exist so they could start anew. Maybe this was what happened to the dinosaurs from so long ago. Their creator must have deemed them unsatisfactory, rid of them, and started over from the ground up. It seemed that now the creator was unsatisfied with his work for the second time and was in the process of ridding humans from the earth so they could start over once more. If that was the case, then it didn't matter what he did from here on out. If the world was damned, then there was no reason to hold back. If no one would help them, then they had to help themselves.

As if solidifying his sudden resolve, the presence behind him spoke up again; hands ghosting on his broad shoulders.

'It doesn't matter if it has flesh and bones. An animal; a human. If you need to; if you're ordered to, then shoot.'

'Focus only on your task and complete it without delay. Any personal feelings or any outside thoughts are unnecessary.'

Quickly pulling himself from his deep thoughts, the man refocused on the task at hand. The time had come. It was time to shoot. Comfortably dropping down to one knee, Kazuki stared intently through the scope and moved his finger to the trigger. With how close the scouts were, he could see the billowing breaths of the worked horses hanging in the air, the sweat upon their necks as they kept onwards with stifling determination. Though exhausted, their steps remained steady and their gait never faltered. Kiyoshi dimly thought to spare the horses if he could, for they had done no wrong. Narrowing his eyes, the man began to pull back the trigger, the weight of the moment making everything feel as though it were happening in minutes rather than seconds.

The bartender beside the man was stupefied as he found that he had very little time to think of an alternative plan. He knew right then and there that he wouldn't allow the men to be killed, but he couldn't just stop Kazuki either. Heiwajima was at loss on what to do and found that his hands had found its way into his unruly hair and now was tugging at the dyed strands. He was so distressed and lost in thought that he wasn't paying any mind to what the man beside him was up to and when the blonde's brain finally caught up with the situation at hand, it was too late. The semi-automatic rifle shot off as fast as the brunette could pull the trigger. Before the men's ears could even ring, two shots had been fired. One had found purchase in a man's chest and the other; directly through the other's head. The world went back into real time again. The horses now thundering as fast as they could towards them in fright.

Kiyoshi's eyes widened as the reality of the situation hit him. It was as if the boom of the gun had brought him back to the surface. It had happened all so quickly that the horses hadn't even registered that their riders were dead. They continued on their path as their limp riders jostled in the saddle and eventually fell into the dust. Even then, they continued on. A horse's loyalty was nothing in the face of danger and would leave you stranded if they were spooked. From up here, Kazuki couldn't see any wounds or blood but the man knew exactly what they looked like and could picture the blood in his mind's eye. He had taken his first two lives and what he was unsettled the most about was that he felt no remorse whatsoever. He knew these men and saw the wrongs they had committed. They were no better than rabid dogs, no better than the dirt on the bottom of his shoe. These men deserved what was coming to them. If no divine being would inflict their punishment, then Kazuki would fill in on their job. The adrenaline was still coursing through him and he felt as though he'd finally made a change, finally took a stand to avenge the innocents that had been taken from this world by these two's hands, but as the adrenaline drained from him,he felt his resolve dwindling. The complete shattering of his resolve happened when an eye-opening fist met the side of his cheek; knocking him to the side.

"What the fuck!", Shizuo roared, his body shaking and his fists balled up so tight that his nails threatened to cut into his palms.

Kiyoshi said nothing and stared back blankly. He didn't feel entirely wrong for what he did, but he also didn't feel entirely right about it either. Was he thinking too deeply into it? There wasn't anything else he could have done. He couldn't have talked them out of it, couldn't have even been able to just hold them hostage and take them along with them. This was the only way, just as Izaya had stated. What would the man even say to him when he got back? Would he comment on what had happened, tell him he'd done well? Would he tell him what he did was right? Kazuki found himself wanting the validation; wanting to be told that he'd done what was absolutely needed. He was unsure of himself where, likewise, Izaya was. Was this not Orihara's idea, his decision? Kazuki'd only carried out an order on his behalf, so he was sure that the man had strong and convincing reasons as to why this needed to be done. The raven would put his mind to rest, settle his thoughts.

The bartender was in shambles. His vision had gone nearly black as he tried to keep himself from doing something he'd regret. He'd hesitated. Again. This time though, the consequences were more drastic than simply being forced to take a nap for a little while. Two lives were lost and it was all his fault. Shizuo refused to blame Kiyoshi for this, no, he was manipulated by Izaya; manipulated into thinking that this was the way.

"What did he say to you!?", Shizuo demanded as he towered over the man who was slowly crawling to his feet. "What did he say to make you think that this was the right thing to do?!"

Kiyoshi paused his movements and slowly brought his gaze up to Heiwajima's; his eyes wide and showing his shock at everything clearly.

"Who?"

"Izaya!"

Kazuki blinked and then continued to stand.

"Izaya...Orihara... I have to see him."

The blonde man put a foot on the brunette's shoulder and pushed him onto his back again; holding him there. The brunette didn't even fight it. Shizuo felt pity wash over him. Another person broken by Izaya.

"Not until you tell me why.", the debt collector said dangerously, stressing his words by adding weight under his foot.

Kiyoshi swallowed, his eyes watering a bit as he made a choked sound.

"There was no other way.", the man nearly whispered as his body took to shaking again.

That was right. There had been no other way. Shizuo had been too busy freaking out to realize that there really had been no other way. Sure they could have run, but how long could they have kept that up for? How long would it have been before they had hit the end; went as far as they could have possibly gone? No matter which way you looked at it, this was the only way to go about it without simply handing over Kazuki, an innocent man who had done nothing but let himself be dragged into something that was more than he bargained for and decided he wanted out.

The blonde looked down at the man again and saw the shock and look of disbelief on his features. This is what their world had been reduced to. Good hearted men were being reduced to shaking messes after being forced to do something they usually would never even dream of doing.

"The world has no room for the good anymore.", Heiwajima found himself murmuring softly as he continued to look down at the man who was now looking at him with that same expression of shock.

It was true. The world no longer catered to the good guys anymore. Shizuo will sooner or later be faced with this same choice again; to either die or kill. He'd faced the choice once already, and had chosen to let Izaya do as he will as he felt his conscious slipping into black. Had he not hesitated he might've just decided to kill that damn bastard. The outcome had been a fifty-fifty split. It could have gone either way. Because of this fact, he couldn't blame Kiyoshi for what he'd come so close to doing himself.

"Let's get the fuck out of here.", the blonde said finally, stepping back away from the man still on his back; not being able to stand this place any longer.

Their walk back had been silent and nothing more than a blur. Everything had happened so quickly that it almost felt like it hadn't happened, but both men knew for fact that it had. The moon, their only witness in what had transpired, was now high in the sky; its pale beams beating down on them as they dragged themselves quietly back to Izaya. Each man was lost in their own thoughts, struggling with their own personal battles; both trapped in the same type of misery. The only difference was that while one was set to hate himself for all his life for what had happened, the other was hoping that Orihara could erase all the doubt.

Behind the pair, Kazuki's great dapple grey horse followed after them. The horse had been lingering around the building his owner was in and had trotted over to them immediately once he saw the brunette leaving. The steady footsteps of the heavy beast was weirdly steading as were the occasional sounds Hizoku made as he trudged along behind them. As they neared the house that Shizuo had left the raven in, the stallion caught scent of the other two and promptly left them in the dust as he immediately broke out into a gallop to meet them. The two men felt themselves sink lower into their minds now that the distracting presence of the stallion was no longer there. Before they could sink too far in though, the blonde spoke up suddenly.

"Just up ahead. The last house to the left.", Heiwajima said gruffly, jerking his head in the direction of the porch.

The brunette vaguely nodded as he fell into step beside the other man, rather than behind him. From where they stood, they could see the house clearly and no signs of movement stirred from within. No shadows went past any windows and no flickering lights of a dimly lit candle shone through the drapes. Either Izaya was still sleeping or the man just liked to keep a low profile. Shizuo doubted that it was the first. Orihara wasn't one to sleep much at all in the first place. The man's job required him to stay awake and active for long periods of time with only short naps in between; regardless of how beat up he was from previous run-ins with Heiwajima or some lucky bastard who'd managed to catch him. In any case, the bartender was sure that the informant was awake, which was a shame since he was not in the mood to hear his snarky remarks at the moment. There was no doubt in his mind that the man would immediately try and rub him the wrong way.

When they made it inside to find Orihara on the couch, expression cold and serious rather than in a creepily warm and uppity mood, Shizuo felt the need to leave immediately. The raven's gaze was calculating as his burgundy eyes raked over the pair. Apparently, the man did not like what he saw for a rare frown appeared on his face. Heiwajima, not wanting to be questioned, turned and walked straight back out of the door. He didn't feel tired much anyways and wanted to be alone so that he could calm himself and come to terms with what had happened. He felt bad for leaving Kazuki to his own devices, but the man apparently liked being around the manipulative fleabag and couldn't wait to come back to him like some dog with a twisted sense of loyalty.

"Disgusting.", Shizuo murmured lowly as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to where Raiju was looking over at him in interest.

Back inside, Kiyoshi was standing a step into the house where the blonde had left him. His head was bowed to hide the shameful tears that began to gather in his eyes. They were not tears of remorse, but tears of self-pity. He was feeling sorry for himself, sorry that he was so unsure. Why was he so conflicted? They had deserved what had been coming to them.

Izaya watched the man's fists curl into themselves tightly in silence as he looked over the situation carefully. This man was close to breaking and dangerously so. He should have known that the task would be too much for him. Kazuki was too soft-hearted to have walked away unscarred.

"Kazuki.", Izaya said suddenly, making the man nearly jump out of his skin. "What's wrong? You're not feeling guilty about what you did are you?"

The brunette's tired and blank eyes slowly drifted up to look the still seated man in the eye. Kiyoshi's throat felt incredibly dry, but he refused the idea of reaching in a saddlebag to get himself some water.

"Orihara I-", Kazuki swallowed dryly as he forced his brain to gather his thoughts. "I killed someone."

The informant leaned forward a bit in the couch as he looked at the taller man intently.

"Yes you did. You killed two people, in fact but because you had to. In order to survive, we need to do things that we don't enjoy doing. That's the way life is."

The ex-soldier's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the man with something akin to frustration.

"How can you just sit there nonchalantly like this is nothing? You have no idea what it's like to kill someone by your own hand…"

Izaya's eyes narrowed a bit as his frown deepened.

"You're right, I have no clue at all. I don't know what it feels like to have pulled a trigger and ended someone's life but I can tell you one thing, I would have done the same if it had absolutely came down to it. Though I doubt it would have ever gotten to that point.", Orihara said lightly and cheerfully , leaving the serious state he was in before and leaning back in the couch again. " They were after you after all and if you hadn't have wanted to take on the job of ridding them I would have tied you to a tree and left clear clues to where you were so they would take you and stop pursuing us."

Kiyoshi was silent at that as he averted his gaze again. He still felt no better than he did before; he still felt conflicted. Unsure. Izaya noticed this and sighed deeply before standing up. He had one more tactic. If this didn't work than nothing would. With an air of complete seriousness, the informant walked over to Kazuki. The man wouldn't look at him, but as soon as the smaller brushed his fingers against the man's cheek, the brunette looked him squarely in the eye. When warm green met a cold and unnerving blood red, the man found himself unable to focus on anything else other than the informant and thus couldn't look away again.

Orihara held the man captive with his eyes in silence for many long seconds as his cold fingers remained where they were, a small brushing reminder for Kiyoshi to pay close attention. He would only say this once, so he wanted to be absolutely sure that the brunette was entirely focused on him and only him. After narrowing his eyes slightly and receiving a confused look after that, he knew that Kazuki was listening.

"You had to do it. There was no other way.", Izaya stated again slowly. "If you hadn't had done it, I would have handed you over to them. To the people who not only go against their word of honor, but men who have changed from soldiers to criminals. Though I love them all the same, they truly are the most despicable humans I've ever had the chance to observe."

After saying those words, Orihara removed himself from the man; making sure to let his fingers linger for as long as possible so that he could hold Kiyoshi's attention.

"Tell me,", the raven began as he walked towards the sliding glass door behind the couch. "Are you familiar with the term 'An eye for an eye?'"

Kiyoshi shook his head slowly, but then realized that the other man wasn't looking at him.

"Ah no… I'm guessing it's an English proverb?"

"Ah and you would be right. Very good Kazuki-san!" , izaya said as he ran his fingers through the long blinds hanging in front of the sliding glass door before turning. "An eye for an eye, or the law of retaliation, is the principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree or in softer interpretations. The victim receives the estimated value of the injury in compensation. In similar words, the punishment of a person is correspondent in kind and degree of the injury."

Izaya sighed as he saw a slight look of confusion pass the man's features, before it finally clicked and his expression became neutral again.

"I understand, but what does that have to do with what happened?", Kiyoshi asked as he found himself looking at the man intently.

"I thought you'd be smarter than that Kazuki-san. Surely you can put two and two together…"

The brunette's eyebrows furrowed once again as he desperately sought to put all the pieces together. When he drew up blank, the man looked to Orihara again desperately wanting the man to fill in what he was missing.

"I would bet the rest of my money in my savings account that those men had killed an innocent before or had done something just as bad. The punishment they received was as equal value to that of their crimes. An eye for an eye, a life for a life.", Izaya said as he walked back towards Kazuki.

Well the raven had guessed well for the two men had killed many already. If their punishment had to have been equal to their crimes, then they surely shouldn't have been given such a painless, quick death.

"An eye for an eye…,huh?", Kazuki parroted, his eyes distant.

"Yes, an eye for an eye. It was only a fair payment. You've done well Kazuki-san.", Izaya breathed, his fingers brushing against Kiyoshi's cheek again, pulling the man from his musings.

The brunette had to suck in air when he saw the absolutely steady and undoubting look in Orihara's eyes. The man truly believed that he'd done no wrong; that he'd done what he'd needed to. The brunette let out a shuddering breath as tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. He tried leaning into the informant's soft touch, but the other man was already retreating again. He wanted to feel the press of Izaya's cool skin against his own, to pull the smaller into a hug and feel his worries slip entirely away but it would be a sin to Orihara's nature to make it that easy. He gave just enough to keep the ex-soldier wanting and attentive to him; never less and never more. Though Kiyoshi knew that Izaya was purposefully keeping him on edge like this, he couldn't find it in himself to even be slightly frustrated. The informant had given him the reassurance he'd needed, which is what had mattered to Kazuki most.

"Kida.", Saki murmured as he ran her fingers through the blonde's dyed strands.

"Hmm?", Masaomi grunted in response as he enjoyed the feeling of his girlfriend's hands in his hair.

"You're scared.", she stated calmly as she looked outside the window beside her to see that the city was still enveloped in chaos.

The initial terrorist attack had died down and now the criminals were running around and taking advantage of the situation by pillaging anything they came across. They'd thankfully found somewhere to hide out until everything died down just in time to avoid this uproar. The apartment they were currently in was a lucky find, abandoned by the original owner so that they could make a break for it.

"I am.", Kida said as he reached up to grasp one of Saki's hands in his own. "Aren't you?"

The brunette hummed softly in thought for a few moments as she looked at the never-ending violence happening on the streets below.

"No.", she murmured softly, shaking her head as she smiled down at her boyfriend.

"And why is that?", The blonde asked curiously, his big brown eyes looking up at her in question.

Saki was silent for a few moments before she shrugged her shoulders.

"I just don't fear death.", she responded simply.

"You should though."

"Hmmm...Maybe."

They let the air around them go quiet as they enjoyed each other's presence; Kida's head on Saki's lap as she continued to detangle his soft locks.

"Are you thinking of running away?"

Masaomi's eyes widened in shock as he nearly choked on his spit. His expression calmed though when he realized that the brunette was still completely calm and unaccusing.

"Never again.", the teen said, his grip on the girl's hand tightening to stress his words. "I'll stay by your side and protect you until the very end. I promise."

Saki looked down at the blonde's steady and even gaze. The conviction behind his eyes showed that he meant every word he'd said. He wouldn't run; not again.

"I believe you.", She said simply as she continued to rake through the blonde's hair.

Masaomi held her gaze for a few more long moments before he moved his hand from her's and instead placed it on her cheek. The brunette smiled knowingly as if she knew what he was going to say already.

"Saki...I love you."

The girl's smile widened to the point where her eyes narrowed a bit. A sign that she was overwhelmingly happy.

"I love you too Masaomi.", she said without hesitation as she bent down slowly to place a soft kiss on the blonde's forehead.

Kida opened his eyes and sat up quickly as the last traces of lingering touches and soft murmurings drifted from his mind. The room was still dark around him as the first beginning signs of morning began to show through the small window between his and Aoba's beds. Masaomi snuffled softly and wiped his eyes of the tears that had fallen without his permission. God, if Kuronuma knew about this-

"Masaomi.", Aoba called out to the blonde, making the older teen startle a bit.

"I'm fine! It's just- I'm fine…", Kida said quickly as he viciously wiped at his eyes.

Aoba looked at him with disbelieving eyes, but granted he held no pity in his gaze. Masaomi was thankful for that. The younger teen seemed to have been up for a while now, his knees pulled up to his chest and his head slightly cocked to the side.

"Did I wake you up?", Masaomi asked as he snuffled again and turned his head away from Kuronuma to stare at the table near the door.

Aoba made a sound of affirmation as he shifted and moved to stand slowly and stiffly.

"It's fine though. I was sleeping for a while already.", the teen said as he climbed onto Kida's bed, moving over the blonde's body to lay by the wall.

"What are you doing?", Kida asked with less irritation than he intended.

"Sharing body heat. It's cold.", the raven said simply as he crawled under the covers and moved towards the wall more so their skin wouldn't touch.

Masaomi sighed. It was pretty cold in the room.

"And this isn't weird to you at all?"

Kuronuma scoffed at that.

"Not as weird as having to use your stomach as a pillow that one time or being bear-hugged from behind for hours on end in the horse wagon when my wrist was broken.", Aoba said as he rolled his eyes. "At this point this should be nothing since we've been practically plastered to one another these past few days"

Kida sighed at that and averted his eyes from the smaller as the raven turned over to face the wall he was against. Sometimes he forgot that the smaller was just as blunt as Izaya. The blonde ignored that comment and laid back down again, his face towards Aoba's bed.

"You were dreaming of Saki.", the raven said as he pushed himself back enough so that his and Kida's backs were pressed together.

Masaomi sighed through his nose. Had he said her name out loud or was it just a lucky guess? Either way, he had still hit the nail on the head. The blonde drew silent, not being able to force himself to affirm the younger teen's suspicions, which was okay since it was clear that Aoba already knew anyways. The sound of frogs and crickets still making their mating calls filled in the quiet for them though as Kida found comfort in Kuronuma's body heat.

"What happened in your dream?", the raven suddenly asked, bringing the blonde back from his comfortable haze.

Kida knew that if he lied then Aoba would know, but he still couldn't bring it in him to say. He didn't want to talk about it, let alone think about it. The dream had left him feeling absolutely devastated and heartsick; it was a reminder of his failure to protect. Saki was gone and he wasn't stupid enough to hope to ever see her again. If only he'd been fast enough in reaching her. He wouldn't have stood a chance against the Defense squad, but at least he would have been able to be with the brunette until the end if he'd been taken with her. Tears of frustration began to fall again and Masaomi couldn't hope to stop them this time.

Hearing the older start to make sniffling noises again, the smaller turned back over and to stare at the back of the blonde's head.

"Kida. You realize that there's no point in worrying about the past right?", Aoba asked as he sighed deeply.

"Can you do something for me?", Masaomi asked instead of answering.

Kuronuma groaned inwardly already knowing that whatever Kida was going to ask would be something he wouldn't want to do.

"What is it?", the raven asked instead of refusing immediately.

The blonde turned over to face Aoba slowly, his eyes still filled to the brim with water and a hesitant look in their brown depths. The younger teen felt himself began to prickle a bit. He didn't know how to deal with tears and could offer no words of comfort. It just wasn't his thing.

"Can I...?", the taller asked lowly, his arms slightly reaching towards Kuronuma. "Can I just…"

Aoba would have laughed at the endearing sight of Kida asking him if he could hold him if the situation had been less awkward for the younger. The raven wasn't good at physical contact either.

"Y-...Yeah.", Kuronuma agreed anyways.

This wasn't anything new after all, Masaomi had held him before but Aoba'd just been facing the other direction. Still… The crying and the need for comfort aspect of it changed it up a little bit. Before Kuronuma could change his mind about it though, the blonde snaked an arm under his ribs and one over them only to intertwine his arms at the smaller teen's back. He then pulled the raven towards him and rested his chin on top of Aoba's head. The raven went rigid in the older's grasp as his nose brushed against Kida's collar bone.

'Too close! Too close! Too close! Too close!', Kuronuma's mind screamed as he smelt the faint scent of pine on the older from his romp outside earlier.

This was far too intimate for him. They'd hated each other less than half a month ago and just began to tolerate one another in even less time than that. They hardly even knew each other enough to call each other friends. Sure they'd been practically glued together since they'd met up again, but it was only because it had been needed. This was different.

Feeling the smaller begin to squirm, Kida strengthened his grip on the raven and curled into him even more.

"Please, Aoba.", the blonde begged. "Just this once."

Kuronuma fell still again as he reluctantly let the blonde seek comfort in him. If this would make him feel better so that he wasn't a wreck for the rest of the day, then it was worth this small sacrifice. They needed to be sharp so they could figure a way out of here before they were moved somewhere else.

"Just this once.", the younger sighed as he let his body go limp.


End file.
